Shinobi of the new age!
by Blazeraptor54
Summary: Naruto was a Fox Faunus in an backwater village named Busan, a chance encounter with a warrior springboards his destiny to take up the sword. However, not everything is black and white, and perhaps some stones are best left unturned. Follow him through this epic Saga, filled with new faces, new challenges, and discover that with an unbreakable will, anything is possible!
1. Chapter 1

A small hamlet outside of Vacuo, near an arid forest, was bustling as people crossed the desert roads of sandstone. The town had recently had fallen into bandit's hands, with a leader of the bandits being called Midori Hana, a feminine name for a very brutish male bandit leader with green hair and pale green eyes.

He looked at the small hamlet, laughing as his bandits ransacked the place, "good! Soon we'll have all of the gold from the mine in our possession, and with a big payday boy!"

Suddenly the leader grabs an elderly man, "Okay old man, where's the fucking key!"

"I don't know…please…have mercy!" The old man cried out in fear, "the key to mine is not in our village, it is in Vacuo City with the owner of our town."

"Bah!" Midori throws the elderly man to the ground, "if you won't give me the key willingly then I'll have to make you."

Midori motioned his hand, watching as two of his Dust Bandit Gang members grab ahold of a woman and child before dossing them in wine from a nearby jar. The bandit leader took a cigar out, lighting it with a smirk on his face and he walks over to them.

"Okay, guy, we're gonna play a game. Either tell me where the key is, or I burn the woman and child!" Midori yells as he held the cigar above them, "clock's ticking gramps."

A figure wearing a cloak, lying near the open stall bar of the small town suddenly raised up, pulling the cloak over their purple spiked ponytail, the person got up and struggled to bar and sat in a stool. The mas hanging above her face was that of a snake, a white snake to be exact.

"Barkeep, hey barkeep, bar~ keep~" She sings as she hicks before yelling, "barkeep!"

She rubbed her eyes chocolate brown eyes, mumbling something about hangovers and deserts. Yawning, she licked her lips, looking at the empty bar and noticed movement behind her. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, her bloodshot eyes had long dried in the heat, she just felt the urge to hurl and then turned to see where the affliction on her shoulder was coming from.

"Oi there, missy, we can your barkeeps, you just need to join the rest of your lovely friends over there." The Bandit gripping her shoulder pointed toward the villagers, "if may do so kindly."

She blinked once, twice, and yawns as she stretched. "Nah, I'm good, bye fuckface."

The Bandit stammered, "excuse me, you little bitch?"

"Hehe," she giggled before rolling her eyes as she drunkenly faced the man by turning her stool around on its leg in a pivot, "the only thing here that's little is you bitch."

"You got a mouth on you, don't ya, that's fine…I can use that pretty little thing here soon~" He gripped her chin, only for her to suddenly lash out and bite into his hand.

He screams in pain, holding his bleeding hand as blood dripped on the sand, "ah, what the fuck?!"

The woman drunkenly got up, swaying slightly side to side, "sorry…sorry…I get a little rough on the first date~"

She drunkenly moved toward the man, the men around the boss howled in laughter, "hey Chestnut you can't handle a little old woman?!"

The Bandit, Chestnut, growls as he grabbed his sword before pointing it at her. She stopped in her tracks sputtering in laughter as she looked at his sword, and then rolled her eyes as she held her forehead. Slowly, taking a deep breath, and then looking at them.

"Seriously," she speaks with a hint of confusion, "anyone can tell me how long I was out?!"

"We thought you were dead, but I'll make sure to make that reality, hyaa!" Chestnut charged and attempted to stab the woman.

The woman huffed, sidestepping the man as she slashed at her, she kept both of her hands behind her as she continued to dodge him. She hopped up, kicking his head and landing behind him with a drunken look on her face still.

She playfully giggles, turning to the man as he turned on his heel, slashing at her again. The chocolate eye woman rolls her eyes and dodges him while keeping her feet on the ground. The sound of her boots sliding on sandstone filled the air, she danced around him.

"Hey," the woman calls out as she dodged several stabs, "you kind of suck at this~"

"You'll be sucking something else when I remove your fucking hands, bitch!" Chestnut screams as he went to stab her in the stomach, "die, bitch!"

The woman dodged him, only to hit his hand upward and send her elbow into his face before taking his sword from his own hand and stabbing him in the chest. She then kicked him off the blade in one motion in tandem with the others, she stumbled around, looking at the blade that blood flowing down it.

She giggled, "oopsie, thought he was a guy~"

"You fuck, not Chestnut!" A Bandit screams, "kill this bitch!"

The woman sighed, easily cutting an arrow as it flew toward her, she watches as the leader dropped his lit cigar toward the woman and child. She then disappeared from view, only to reappear and she was holding the lit cigar in her free hand.

She took it, smoked it once, shrugging as she tossed it to the ground. "Really cheap tobacco!"

She turns to him, "you are a leader right, what the fuck are doing with a cheap cigar?! You know what, my buzz and hangover are going away, motherfuckers done pissed me right the fuck off! Do you know who the fuck I am, I am The Snake Mistress, The Goddess of Pain, The Stylish Swordswoman!"

Striking poses that were somewhat between crazed and even lewd, she finished on one as she held the sword into the air, "I am Anko motherfucking Mitarashi, The White Snake Mistress of Remnant!"

The mighty wind blew to a halt, everyone staying silent, she then had a tick mark grow over her head. "Seriously, really, no one knows me in this part of Vacuo?"

The woman looked around, looking at the blade in her hand, "hey…what the fuck, this isn't my sword!"

"Um, miss," she snapped her head toward the bar and noticed that it was sitting on top of the counter. "You passed out, trying to do a trick with it."

"Oh, yeah, that about makes sense. How much did I drink old man, I mean seriously, I feel wasted still?" Anko rubbed the back of her head, "and woozy."

"You three jars of high-quality wine complained that it was stout, had an entire bottle Vacuoian Whiskey, which is one hundred and eighty proof." The elderly man pointed out, revealing himself as the barkeep, "you were making me a killing."

"Alright, that's it, I'm about to make a killing if you don't all shut the fuck up!" Midori screamed as he held the Barkeep up in the air, "surrender or he dies!"

Anko raised her eyebrow out him, "Goddamn you are terrible villains, I mean how cliché can you be. Don't get me wrong, I cuss like a sailor on some good fucking shit, but you're cussing for no reason. Jeez, seriously, and really…green armor…green hair…green eyes. We get it, Midori is the old word for green, sheesh."

She rolls her eyes and mocks him openly, "this is probably the shittiest cliché name making strategy out there, what did you decide one morning. _'Oh, look at me, my name is Green Flower in the old language, I must dress it and live it like a two liens hooker on Saint Ire's Day in Mistral.'_ I mean cmon man, put some red on that green!"

The purple haired woman then flipped her cloak down, revealing white scaled armor underneath and a black hakama at the bottom of it as her cloak fell off. She took a deep breath, the crest of a white snake on the back, she stretches and looked at them all.

She then winked at the bandit leader, "this is how you style, not that'll it'll matter."

"What, you gonna capture me?" He mocks as he held the elderly man up more, "I'll kill this man!"

"See, terrible, just fucking terrible." She walks over to the sword laying on the bar, picking it up, "hello baby."

She hiccups as the sword smelled of alcohol, at least the sheath did, she rolled her eyes. Suddenly several bandits charged toward her, but she disappeared from their view as she faded in an afterimage that was struck instead.

Appearing behind Midori, she stood to his back, "capturing you is for cops and Huntsman. Me, well, I'm just a mercenary. So, instead of capturing you, I'll just be detaining that pretty little green head of yours."

Midori went to move only Anko to suddenly unsheathe the sword she had, it had a curved blade, in a sort of smooth flow motion throughout the blade to the hilt. She spun on her heel and the blade fully came out of its scabbard, which went flying into a bandit and knocked them to the ground.

The Bandit's leader screamed as he saw death coming toward him, only for Anko to flip up in her slice and take off both his hands that were holding the man. She spun the sword around, which was bright whiteish metal, it even left a sort of light trail from the speed.

The man backed away, looking at the stumps that used to be his hands.

"Haa…ah…" he breaths rapidly before screaming, "ahahah!"

Anko rolled her eyes as she blocked several arrows heading toward her in rapid succession, she disappeared in a burst of speed and appeared behind two bandits and sliced their arms off in rapid succession before slicing through their heads.

She then butterfly-kicked one coming toward her front, spinning her blade around as it began to glow, and then spinning on her foot as a wave of light traveled from it and impacted a larger bandit heading toward her.

He stopped, falling in half, his halves cauterized by the energy, so no blood leaked everywhere. She whistles as the blade glowed brightly once more and she gave a middle finger salute to Midori, turning to another one of his misfit minions before killing him with a quick stab to the heart.

Anko kicked the man off her blade as he flipped backward, afterimages from her speed, she spun her sword around to clean the blood of it. Smirking as she kept the double-edged blade pointed forward as she approached a bandit holding a gun.

The bandit let loose a hail of fire upon her, his weapon being an automatic, but Anko weaved and cut through any round that was getting too close to her. Her weapon destroying the rounds as she cut through them, making them bounce harmlessly against her aura.

She then held two fingers up in her free hand and closed her fist as she flowed aura into gale stone into her sword. The woman spun on her heel and sliced through the air as two bandits tried to jump her from behind her.

They all stopped moving mid-air, falling to the ground in the heap, bleeding heavily from deep wounds across their body. She took a look around, sighing as every one of the bandits but Midori was dead. She sheathed her blade back into the scabbard that she placed back on her right hip.

She was left handed after all.

"The Flight of The Silver Bird is complete," Anko murmurs as she took a deep breath before walking toward the handless former Bandit Leader. "So, gonna cry like a bitch or are you going to take it like a man?"

"Don't kill me, please!" Midori begs, making Anko roll her eyes, "please…?"

Anko took a deep breath before suddenly palm thrusting into the man's chest, sending a wave of aura through it that made his heart explode, blood leaked from his mouth as he fell over dead in a heap. She took a deep breath, dusting herself off and stretches.

"Holy crap," a man said as he got up, "they're all dead."

"Yep," Anko walked over to the bar, "and I'm needing some to go orders!"

Everyone looked at one another, then to her, "what do you want…on the house?"

Anko laughed boisterously as she rode her horse, on the sides of the horse was literally wine jars and even a pack of bottles she got from the bar. She'd leave the burying of the worthless trash to the villagers of that hamlet, she just wanted to drink and have a good time.

She pulled her cloak back up, hiding her face as she made sure that her sword was there. "Alright, Kusanagi, next stop, Haven Academy for my grandiose duel!"

She then blinked, realizing something, "son of a fuck I'm on the wrong continent…"

Shrugging, she grabbed a bottle and then pours the contents into her mouth. Relaxing on her steed, which was a brown Balikun from Mistral she had gotten from her master when she started her journey. Taking a moment to pet the horse's head, she coos it before clicking her tongue.

"Gitty up Maki were on the clock here, ya!" Anko ordered the horse, "ya!"

* * *

 ** _Shinobi of the new age!  
Chapter one: A snake meets a fishcake!_**

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki was a young lad, just growing his first chest hairs at the tender age of eleven, his fox tail swished back and forth as he held his bow up. Taking a look at a massive buck in front of him, he was a hunter in training for a small village in Mistral.

He wanted to be something more than just a hunter, he wanted to be a legendary warrior, a Huntsman.

However, being an orphan after his father's recent death due to the plague, that he somehow managed to avoid allowed no such possibility. It required lots of money to be a Huntsman, and himself was barely scraping by with leather trading while cleaning any animal he had hunted for the meat.

He held his longbow tightly as he overdrawn the string to give it the oomph it needed to give a quick death shot, he didn't want to make the deer suffer, it went against his beliefs to make things suffer. Taking a deep breath, he took a deep breath, focusing on the deer.

Finally, time itself slowed down for him and he let fate decide as he let go of the string. The bow snapped the air, and a very audible thwack sounded as the arrow hit the deer center mass. Right through its heart, an instant kill, though its body reacted by trying to run forward only to fall no sooner than a few seconds later as the body realizes that it was dead.

Naruto fist-pumped as he strung the bow over him, his quiver bounced on his hip as he hopped down from the tree, and as he walks over toward the dead deer. Taking a moment, Naruto clapped his hands and took a deep breath.

One of the last things his father taught was unlocking his aura, his father having been a former Huntsman, but since he was wheelchair bound he couldn't do much of anything before his death. Naruto didn't hate him for cruel twists of fate, he just hated the fact he was gone.

His mentor, his best friend, the only family he had left!

The blonde took a gander at the deer, scratching his whisker marks, the buck was at least a six-pointer. Taking a moment to examine the carcass, checking for worms and various other signs of disease, Naruto determined the buck was edible and the skin was good for leather.

Grabbing it by the antlers he then begins the long drag back home, heaving as he slowly drags the deer behind him with one hand. He may have been a young tween, but his aura increased his strength to the level of a full-grown man and perhaps beyond such.

Part of the reason he got a bad rep inside of his village, and the fact that his dad went unmarried before having him and his mother disappears. Which started rumors of him being the son of a spirit, which was preposterous since he'd be see through.

At least that's what he thinks.

The Village was known as Busan, a village on the west coast of Mistral's continent of Anima. The forested west side of the continent was a far cry from the mountainous east, where the capital rested on perhaps the safest of the natural barriers in all of Remnant save for Atlas's bitter cold.

However, Atlas hated his kind anyhow, so screw Atlas and their cold.

The West Coast of Anima was home to various species of deer, wolves, and even bears like brown bears, black bears, and even grizzlies.

Naruto had the misfortune of losing a deer to a grizzly, he was smart enough not to be stupid enough to stand between a carcass and an apex predator. Despite what Mankind and even Faunus thought, they weren't on top of the food chain in the wild.

They were at the midpoint unless they had a spear, and even then, there was no assurance of coming in the top.

Apex Predators like wolverines, bears, and even the damn honey badgers that roamed the outer edge of the forest were the apex animals of this kingdom.

Naruto learned not to mess with wolverines or honey badgers, especially when he saw a wolverine _kill_ a bear by ripping its stomach open when it tripped on the ground.

His biggest fear was that one day if he wasn't careful, he'd be the bear!

Yawning, the blonde Faunus stretches as he as he continued to drag the deer, stopping as he sensed danger. Looking around, he saw nothing, but he knew well enough to never doubt your instincts. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and focused.

The snapping of a tree branch made his eyes shoot open, "crap!"

Naruto lets go of the deer, rolling forward as a large creature dropped down on it. It was a large Beowulf, a Grimm, a true demonic creature that craved mortal flesh in any form. It growled at Naruto, apparently, it had been hunting him since he had the deer.

The blonde took a deep breath, gulping down his fears as he readied his bow, getting arrow only to discovered when he rolled forward his arrows had dropped out of the quiver. He looked at the Beowulf, then at the ground, and laughed nervously.

"H-hey," Naruto held his hands up, "deer is right there…I mean…wanna eat something that won't fight you?"

The wolf demon took a step forward, Naruto cringed as he heard his arrow snap. Naruto took a deep breath as he turned literal tail and ran fast as the Beowulf gave chase. The blonde tween sprinted as fast as he could toward the village.

His aura enhanced legs allowing him to keep out of reach of the Beowulf as it sprinted toward him as well. Naruto then saw a large oak tree and ran full force at it before running up it, literally.

It was trick his father showed him involving sticking your aura to objects and holding yourself in place, Naruto practiced it just in case he needed an escape. However, when he heard Beowulf's claws dig into the bark he knew that this method was not going to work.

Naruto then hopped from tree branch to tree branch, looking down as he saw another Beowulf, "oh c'mon!"

He dropped down to the ground and took a deep breath as he found a river and ran parallel to it as he saw the two Beowulfs following him. He took his bow off and threw hard at one of them as he ran, needing to lose anything that could snag him on something in the escape anyhow.

However, as he ran, he started to lurch forward until he was on all fours and began to like that. It was something he did with conscious thought most of the time when running for his life, in fact, it helped as he started to pull away from the Beowulfs until a third and much larger one almost caught when it leaped from a bush to his side.

The loud splash in the river signaled he overshot Naruto, thankfully, because the blonde hadn't detected him at all.

Power sliding on the ground as he suddenly changed directions, Naruto then leaped onto several river stones trying to get across the river that would undoubtedly slow the monstrous wolves down. He made it across and kept running as if he was escaping Kuro, the mythological giant demon owl.

Naruto took a deep breath as he continued to run, his lungs begging for him to stop, but he knew if he did he was dead meat!

The child climbed up to a very top of a tree, leaping from canopy to canopy as he made sure to take the high ground. using his aura to help with the leaping and the landings that would've hurt his hands if he hadn't had the energy to protect him.

Taking a moment to look down, noticing that the demonic wolves were gone, Naruto landed on a nearby path and stopped as he took several deep breaths. He noted a horse on the path, and a woman lying near a tree.

She was drunk, obviously, the number of bottles around her was staggering, to say the least. Naruto ran over toward her, intent to warn her about the incoming Grimm.

"Miss!" He screams, "please get up, there's Grimm coming!"

Naruto then heard her snoring, she mumbled in her drunken sleep, "I don't wanna go to the lame pageant~"

He winced as he heard the horse whine, turning to see the two smaller Beowulfs flanking the large, obvious Alpha Beowulf. Naruto fearfully recoils, his eyes widened as they approached him and the woman.

The blonde looked around for something, like a gun, anything!

He found a sword lying near her and was faced with a choice as he reached down and grabbed it. He could easily run away, leaving her to a death that would not be swift, and she'd probably wake up once they ripped a piece of her off.

Then again, he could stay, try to fight, and more than likely die!

Taking a deep breath, he knew his father would be disappointed if he just left someone there, and so he winces as he says a quick prayer. He took hold of the scabbard, gripping the handle of the sword, and tried to pull it out.

A strange glowing sigil formed across the scabbard as he tried to pull it out, only for it to hold steadfast, Naruto's eyes widened tremendously as he continued to try. He gave up after the fifth time, tossing the sword and scabbard and unknowingly hitting the woman in the head with it.

She groans, waking up to see a kid standing over her, his back to her as he reached down in his boot and got a small little carving knife out.

"I'm the son of a Huntsman, you don't scare me," Naruto screams at the Beowulfs, "go away!"

They stopped, seemingly chuckling at the blonde before slowly backing up suddenly. Naruto blinked for a moment, he then smirked as he spun his carving knife around and took a deep breath as he got ready to charge at one of them reckless abandoned!

Only to feel his hoodie grabbed by a woman and him getting tossed to the ground on his ass.

"Oi," Naruto looked up at the woman as she spoke to him while nursing a lump on her head, "are you the little prick that gave me this lump?"

"Huh, what, oh…" Naruto realized he accidentally hit her with the sword when he tossed it away, "sorry…"

"Motherfucker, fucking shit, shit~" She hisses as he watches her grip the lump, "fuck a nut, fuck a duck, fuckity-fuck-fuck!"

She roars out, "why can't I have a hangover in fucking peace!"

The Beowulfs howled at her, they had drool dripping out of their mouths as they started to growl loudly. The woman gave them a flat look, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face, she then growled as she reached for her sword.

Only it wasn't at her side, she blinked once and then looked on the ground, "son of a bitch…give me a minute…"

She walks over to it, looking at the Grimm with drunken annoyance, she hickuped as her hand gripped the sword's handle and in one smooth turn she launched the sheath at them. The sheath impacted the Beowulf flanking right of their leader, smashing its head in and killing it.

She spun her sword around as she suddenly appeared in front the Alpha Beowulf and sliced its head off in one smooth motion before stabbing the other in the head. Backing away she then spun on her heel and sliced her sword with reckless abandoned until the demonic wolves split apart into many pieces and turn into black dust.

She took a deep breath as she starts to sober up, only to look over her shoulder and at the kid as a large King Taijitu lowered its head from the tree. She pointed up with her thumb, making Naruto shakenly look up as he felt his heart stop.

"Holy," he rolls forward as he nearly gets eaten whole, "crap!"

Naruto's orange hoodie ripped on the ground's jagged rocks, however, he suddenly dodged to the right as he dodged the black head of the snake. He marched in place as he looked at the large snake, breathing hard as he kept marching in place.

Anko got a toothpick out, watching as the boy dodged the snakeheads some more, _"he's kind of fast."_

"Crap, crap, oh crap, oh crap, please, help, me!" Naruto screams as he dodged the heads as they tried to bite him still, seemingly playing with their food, "beetle dung, beetle dung!"

The woman watches as his head suddenly snapped toward the carving knife laying on the ground, she then watches him roll forward and grab it. Holding the blade in his hand as he resumed marching pace as he kept dodging the snake.

Naruto took a deep breath as he focused hard and then dodged backward as he then threw the knife and luckily hit the white snake head's left eye with it. It sunk in deep, a hard throw for a preteen in Anko's book, and she was surprised to see the snake demon roar out in pain.

The blonde Fox Faunus in front of her turned ghost white as she watches him freeze when both heads lurched up, bearing their fangs.

"Well kid, I guess they're done playing with you," Anko turns her back to him. "Try not to fight too hard in there."

"Ah!" Naruto screams to the top of his lungs as the snake suddenly launched themselves at him, only for their heads to suddenly come off as Anko stood on the tree branch above him.

He shook, watching her turn to him, he then felt something wet cascade down his pants. Anko laughs as she turned to him, she looked at him, noting that he had just pissed himself.

"Oopsie looks like you sprung a leak!" Anko teases as she watched Naruto turn red and cover the wettest area and facing away from her as he walked away from her, "hey where the fuck you are going!"

"Home!" Naruto yelled back as he hobbled along, "I'm not staying here to get eaten by a giant snake as fun!"

Anko rolls her eyes, "oh c'mon kid, I wasn't gonna let you get eaten…maybe let them have a tinsy tiny nibble."

"See!" Naruto accuses as he hobbled faster.

Only for Anko walk backward behind him, her horse following them as she picked up her scabbard, "so does mommy and daddy know you're out here so far away from home~"

"My parents are gone, my mom left and my dad died a couple years back…" Naruto told her unconsciously, he sped up his hobbling, "just leave me alone…I'm so embarrassed…"

"What, you're a midget and you went against Beowulfs and a giant Taijitu, so what if you pissed yourself?" Anko then jumped in front of him, "at least it's a sign to let you know you're alive and well."

"Yeah, well, I'm not comfortable talking to you strange lady." Naruto told her as he hobbled past her, "Busan is this way if you're looking for an inn."

"Busan, wait, Busan…" she got her map out and her eyes widened, "son of a motherfucker! Maki, Maki, you dumb Balikun!"

The horse neighed in response.

"You sent us westward, we needed to go east, EAST!" Anko emphasized as she looked at the horse before smacking her face, "I'm arguing with a horse…"

The horse neighs and then blows raspberries with its mouth.

Naruto chuckled, "he's saying you're a dumb-dumb."

The woman suddenly erupted on the horse, "you piece of fucking walking glue, I'll have you taken to a wig factory, you _can_ understand me…you…little bastard…"

She turned to the boy, he chuckled sheepishly, "s-sorry."

Huffing, crossing her arms, "I outta just leave your little ass out here in the woods, smart little asshole, don't you have an inkling of who you're talking too?"

"Um," Naruto looked confused his hobbling stopped and now he was walking normally, "some crazy woman who named her horse after a noodle topping?"

"How dare you," she jumps in front of him striking a pose, "I am the sexiest, the most gifted, the one and only, ANKO MITARASHI!"

She launched confetti, somehow, form her hands as she held her hands in the air. She was expecting the blonde to gasp at her, dropping down to his knees in apologies, but instead he blanched at her and looked like his face got hit with frying pan for how flat his expression was.

"Seriously, this backwater hamlet hasn't heard of me, I'm one of the best swordswomen in the world. In fact, no, I am the fucking best swordswoman in the world!" Anko proudly stated with a huff of her chest, "I can beat anyone, anything, anyway."

Naruto nodded, "well, you did take down the Grimm while drunk…"

"Yeppers, I am the best-drunk fighter ever!" Anko pumped his fist as he rolled his eyes, "say whiskers where are you taking me…thought you said the village was that way!"

"I am going to take you to the village, I just have dead-drop out here, just in case something happened, and I lost my stuff." Naruto then smirked as he looked at a hollow tree and reached inside of it and pulled a rather large rucksack out.

Naruto took off his hoodie and tossed it into the hollow tree before grabbing another out of the rucksack along a set of blue sweatpants and underwear with little froggies on them. Anko held in her chuckle, meaning she didn't and laughed at the blonde's furthered embarrassment.

He stepped around the tree, out of her sight, and changed rapidly. Throwing the dirty clothes into the rucksack and pulling a quiver and bow that he tucked in. Unlike the longbow, he had before this was a compact bow that was foldable.

He took a deep breath as he held the bow, counting his arrows, "dang I forgot to carry nine…nine is my lucky number!"

Anko rolled her eyes, "how many do you have?"

"Ten, oh well, I'm sure we won't get attacked. I need to stop and retrace my steps to my deer…if a bear didn't get it." Naruto sighs as he nocked his bowstring with an arrow, "just in case~"

* * *

"Fuck me, you ran this far away from them Beowulfs, jeez kid how fast are you?" Anko complains as they got to where Naruto was before he looked at the blood pooled on the ground, "kid?"

"Damn it," Naruto dropped his bow to where his tail grabbed it, "you dark yogis stay away from my bucks!"

He held both his hands over his mouth as he yelled to project it, he then held the middle finger out and waved it all around the forest, thinking that at least one bear was bound to have seen it. He then sighed, grumbling as he looked at the blood pool.

"It was a six-pointer too, dang it all, dang it!" Naruto kicked a rock on the ground, sending it toward a tree where it bounced off and hit another.

Anko's eyes widened slightly, _"he's strong, wait I can sense aura coming from him…interesting."_

"How old are you kid, seem like you know your way around the woods well enough?" Anko questioned him as she looked at the broken bark of the tree, "well…"

"I'm eleven, okay, sheesh! What, are you some Chomo?" Naruto spat as he looked at her with his arms crossed, "and you are right to say I know my _own_ woods. I've been hunting, fishing, and trapping here since I was four with my dad!"

 _"_ _Save you're doing it by yourself now, hmm, kind of feel bad for this brat."_ Anko watched as he looked up and then rolled his eyes, "found my other quiver, dang Beowulf must've thrown it in the tree when it ripped off me."

He walked toward the tree, taking a deep breath, and Anko's eyes widened when he began to walk straight up on it. Walking upside down, he gets to his quiver before hopping off and landing on both of his feet.

Looking at her, she seemed disturbed, until he spoke up. "What, never seen someone walk on a tree?"

"Yeah, because I can, who was your father?" Anko questioned as she saw the blonde Faunus stretch and take the two arrows that were tucked in the quiver.

Naruto finished prepping himself, "Minato Namikaze, he wanted me to keep my mother's maiden name, Uzumaki."

Her eyes widened slightly, _"The Flying Thunder God, motherfucker had a kid?! Wait, and with a Faunus, son of a bitch got lucky!"_

Anko looked at him, "and he's dead-dead…not dead asleep?"

"Yeah, dead-dead, why?" Naruto inquires as he stretches with the bow still in his tail, "you're acting really weird right now."

"Oh, no reason kid, I'm pretty sure that village treats your well since you are the son of a Huntsman." Anko tells him as she spoke without thought and assurance, "and I know this because your father was a legend in Mistral."

"Yeah, until he got with my mom and she walked out on him after he lost his ability to walk. I only remember that my mom had red hair, that's it, I have her round face." Naruto told Anko as he rubbed the back of his head, seemingly not unaffected by talking about it, "he hit a downward spiral with his cancer and I woke up one day and he was just gone…"

Anko sighed, "bout the way it usually happens, one minute fine next minute poof."

Naruto rolled his eyes, he noticed a smell in the air, "you stink…"

"Oh, I know, it's called being drunk and constantly getting fights, you should try it kiddo." Anko ruffled his hair and yawned, "I need a nap."

Naruto sighed, looking down at the ground, "my home isn't far from here. You could shower and take a nap there, I'll even cook!"

The woman turned to him, "young man, you aren't getting fresh with an older woman, are you?"

"What?" Naruto questioned, "I mean I am fresh, I took a shower today before I left."

Anko just slapped her face, "just show me the damned way…I lost too many brain cells as is…"


	2. Chapter 2

(I have a feeling to change the title, maybe, maybe not. Anyway, this will be an episodic series. So far I've written out the first two seasons in a timeline, each "season" is ten chapters in length maybe more, it depends how far in depth I want to get into the world.

This will be an epic length story, and my definition of epic length is like with Perfect Time and Silent Moon. At a minimum, you're looking at the possibility of having 500k in words, perhaps closer to 700k in this story.

I've begone taking older stories of mine, combining them, and the results so far have been Silent Moon (A combination of One Last Time and various others.) Perfect Time (One Last Time, Aurora, and Seishin.) and this one (A Family, Son of The Demoness, and Guardian.)

Now bear in mind just because I used a mix of these stories, it doesn't mean that plot points in those will be the same as this one. So, don't expect anything, but speculate on everything!

As of right now, I am compiling a list of chapter names and I want people (yes you people.) to shoot some story name ideas to me. (I know I'm lazy.)

Those I like will get put into a poll for all to vote on.

Cheers

-Blazeraptor54/Chris.

P.S the art on Silent Moon was done by an artist (jfisherjr1009) I'm planning to have to make a title card for this series as well, and maybe even Perfect Time…that or I'll just go on google and look for something that's old and form-fitting…I never claimed I was innocent…)

* * *

Anko's snoring was obscene as she laid sprawled out on the couch, her horse was tied outside to where Naruto could see it in the window. The blonde had come back with some rabbit and had begun to cook it with a mix of wild spices he had found throughout the forest.

Naruto focused on the crackling of meet in a frying pan as he added some vegetables he had gotten from the market the other day, stirring the mixture of lettuce leaves and corn as he turned the heat down on the stove.

Taking the two large pieces of rabbit meet out of the pan, Naruto yawns as he prepared the plates with plastic silverware and all. He looked in his fridge, finding some orange soda and such, as well as homemade tea from wild tea leaves that grew throughout the area.

Naruto made her a glass of tea while getting the rest of the soda into a glass, set the table up, and walked over toward Anko.

"Anko," Naruto calls as he nudged her with his hand, "drunk lady…hello."

"Mm, what, what you won't pipsqueak?" Anko murmurs as she yawns and looked at the child, "no seriously, I was enjoying my nap…what time is it?"

"You've been asleep since this morning, it's about six o'clock." Naruto tells as he rubbed the back of his head, "dinner is ready."

She sniffed the air and got up as she followed Naruto into the kitchen, noting the pictures throughout the house of a man in a wheelchair and a child next to him. Minato Namikaze must've gotten a good pension for him to have kept a child by himself throughout the time he was alive and possibly riddled with cancer.

Shame, she wanted to duel him.

She looked at the plate he had sat up, wincing at the greasy food, but sighed as she sat down and got ready to eat the rabbit meat that was presented to her. Naruto clapped his hands together, smiling as he spoke in silence before taking the first bite out of the rabbit.

"Mm, not bad," Naruto tells her as he swallowed the first piece. "I've been learning to cook since dad passed, I don't think I'm too terrible at it."

Anko looked at it, then at him, it really wasn't bad she just didn't like greasy food. However, beggars couldn't be choosers and she took a deep breath before taking a piece of it into her mouth. Her face turned red slightly, she then gave a dry cough.

"Wow, this is spicy, woo!" Anko hollers as she took a deep breath, "damn spicy."

"I know, I used cinnamon and some peppers in the mix of the vegetables while cutting them open and letting their juices flow on it. I love spicy foods, I've been trying to get a ghost pepper and try my hand out in salsa…so…far…no dice." Naruto said as he started to sneeze and ended up sneezing loudly as some pepper got in his nose, "sorry."

She looked at the tea sitting at her table, she sighed before taking a drink of it, she hummed at the taste. She never really liked tea, but this wasn't half bad, she looked at him while he took a drink of his orange soda and smiled.

Nodding, Anko took a moment to look at the photos on the wall, "so it was just you and your pops?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied to her question as he took a deep breath, "was just me and him."

The woman nodded, sighing, "I'm sorry…really I am."

"It is fine, I mean, we all gotta go at some point, right? My dad went peacefully at least, I've been taking care of the house ever since." Naruto told her as he gets up from the table and walks over to refill his glass with water.

He sat back down, sipping on it as he took the cold liquid into his mouth, and gave heart filled and contented sigh. The blonde looked around the kitchen, noting the lack of color in the walls, and the general cleanliness he had kept it at for the last two years since his father died.

His blonde hair was shoulder length, spikey, a spitting image of his father in many ways except for his face and Faunus trait.

Anko finished off he rabbit relatively quickly, enjoying the spice to it as she continued to eat it, "you've got a knack for cooking young man."

"Thanks," Naruto thanked her as he smiles brightly, a dumb child's smile that bore all the innocence of the world in it.

She chuckled at it, watching as the blonde began to quickly finish his rabbit, he got back up from the table after he was done and donned an apron before grabbing the dirty dishes. He then walked over to the sink, using some regular anti-bacterial soap, and a happy whistle, he began to wash the dishes.

"So, you've lived here by yourself, no one else?" Anko inquired, stunned to think an eleven-year-old boy could even handle themselves.

Made more impressive by his own skillset since he claimed he could track deer for three miles, which was incredible, but rather sad at the same time since it meant he had to hunt for most of his food. It wasn't that she didn't like hunting, she loved it, she just thought for a tween to be living on their own was a big risk factor.

"Busan didn't take kindly to my father when he first moved in, apparently when mom was pregnant with me they used to write slurs on her doors at night, Humanity First has a real strong backing here…ever heard of them?" Naruto asks as he finished the dishes up before jumping on the counter to put them in the cupboard above.

Naruto then grunts as he gets down, "I personally think they're just a buncha mean bullies who need to be decked in the schnoz."

Anko blinked at that, she then leaned back in the chair laughing her head off, snorting while she laughed. "Schnoz…that's a funny word…"

"What my dad taught me, you hit bullies in the nose and they usually run away, I am right handed but my dad said I had a mean left hook like my mother!" Naruto held his left arm up while gripping, displaying the obviously undeveloped muscle he thought he had.

"Say, in some of these pictures I saw a sword with your father, where is it by chance?" Anko questions him as she noted the blonde's sudden change in demeanor, "what?"

"You're aren't just being nice to me to get my dad's sacred treasure are you, my dad's sword was precious to him, it was handed down from his father to his father's father. I've practiced with it, but I'm terrible, really terrible!" Naruto whines slightly as he held his head low, "and it does this weird glow thingy like yours did when I try to pull it out of its scabbard."

"Really stupid question here kid, did it let you?" Anko continued to inquire as she feigned ignorance to the significance of the sword and the wielder.

"Um, yeah it did, it was weird to…like it hummed." Naruto admitted as he rubbed the back of his head, "hey…wait a minute how would you know about that?"

"Oh, because my sword is the same way, its scabbard is protected by a magical seal that keeps someone who isn't the designated wielder from using my blade." Anko tells Naruto as she walked toward the couch and grabbed her blade before walking back over to him, "see the glow?"

Naruto looked at the scabbard, it had a purple glow over the entire sheath in a sort of runic symbols, with what appeared to be a snake crest in the middle of them. His father's sword had very similar looking runes and even the position of the crest.

However, the crest was of a fox rather than a snake.

"Ma-magic, please, magic isn't real!" Naruto scoffed at the idea of it, "I mean seriously I may be a kid, but give me some credit here. Nothing but babies believe in that mumbo jumbo anyway."

Anko rolls her eyes, "if that's the case, remove my blade then."

Naruto met her eyes, ocean meeting chocolate, he then reached out and grabbed the hilt of the blade before pulling hard. She chuckled when he jerked his arm several times, then grabbing with both arms, grunting childishly while gritting his teeth.

He gripped while facing away from it before trying to run, only to find himself quickly sliding on the wooden floor with his buttocks when his hands gave way on their grip. Looked at the sword, then to Anko, and then watches chuckle.

"You're doing something," Naruto accuses her as he held out his hands, "hand me it."

Anko looked at him, then her blade, shrugging as she tossed it over to him. He to it to his side, attempting to remove it like a regular blade, only to find that it was stuck. She snorted, watching him flail his little limbs in various attempts to remove the sword.

He growls as he then looked over the scabbard, "there's gotta be a lock on this thing!"

Naruto searched over it, finding no such device, then he looked at the tightly compacted scabbard which seemed to conform perfectly to the sword so there was no exact viewpoint on the inside. He glared at it, he then glared at her as she started laughing.

"It's not funny, I know how to get a sword out of the scabbard!" Naruto yells as he made it jingle with each pull.

Anko watches this, the comedy of it all was spectacular, he was tenacious at the very least she'd give him that. Finally, Naruto yells as he threw the sword back at her, to which she easily caught with a dumb smile on her face from the laughing she did.

He points at her accusingly, "you've got a trick to removing, don't you?!"

"Yeah, its called magic, and I'm the only one who can unless I designate you to do so." Anko answers him with a nonchalant wave of her hand, "you never stood a chance small fry."

"Hey!" Naruto complains, "I'm not small, I just haven't hit a growth spurt yet!"

Anko just rolled her eyes, "well until you get to be taller than three foot whatever, your nickname is short stack or small fry…take your pick~"

The blonde grimaced as he rubbed his head mumbling as he tried to figure out which one was the better nickname. Taking a moment to think it out, Naruto sighed and looked at Anko with a deep frown.

"Short stack," Naruto told her, and he lowered his head, "yay…"

"Oh, wait you're named after a topping, ooh~" Anko then got up and declared while pointing at him, "I'll call you Fishcake!"

"Eh?!" Naruto yelps as he looked at her, "but I'm not named after a food topping!"

"Yeah you are, Naruto, Narutomaki, it's a fish topping on ramen." Anko told him as she then points out, "and your last name is Uzu-Maki."

His right eye twitches as he held up his fist, it had a strange little tick mark on it that seemed to pulsate, "Grrr…I'm not a fish! I'm named after a mighty whirlpool in the bay of Hollow Trees. Us Mistralians called it Naruto, thusly, I'm Naruto!"

She blew raspberries as she rolled her eyes, "yeah, whatever Fishcake."

"Man…" Naruto groans as he crossed his arms, "what a bummer!"

* * *

 ** _Shinobi of the new age!  
Chapter two: Busan Snake Party._**

* * *

Naruto was standing outside on the street of Busan, he had wanted to show Anko around, but she wasn't exactly taking too kindly to the villager's stares at the blonde. Some even whispering, finally, she sighed and watches him continue walking with a smile on his face.

 _"_ _Do you always hide behind that dumb smile kiddo?"_ Anko questioned internally as she and him around the corner to a small noodle shop, "noodles?"

"Yeah, I usually sell Teuichi any deer meat I get, I got like…four nice bodies in the freezer shed outback." Naruto tells her.

"Oh," Anko rubbed the back of her head with a dumb smile as she guided Maki along. "I see then."

"Yeah, its how I make money, and the leather I use is for like a makeshift leather armor I'm making, I don't know how to dye too well though. Learning it as I go, so far I got the chest piece made." Naruto tells her as he pulled out his scroll, but for some reason, it said _"Welcome Minato"_ on the screen.

It would make sense for the boy to use his father's scroll.

She looked at the deer hanging up, all them cleaned and gutted, "so what do you do with the guts?"

"Oh, the guts, I cut them up and use them for fish bait." Naruto tells her as takes the scroll back, "Catfish are large in The Busan River, which what the name of my village gets named from."

"Hmm, what's the biggest one you caught?" Anko teasingly questions as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Fifteen-pound catfish, every bit as big as me!" Naruto excitedly stated, smiling that same dumb smile from earlier.

Naruto then sighed, "my dad taught me a lot when he was in a wheelchair, he even made books on survival just for me…"

"Yet didn't write you a book for practicing swordplay," Anko shrugs as she spoke, "guess he wanted you to be a humble outdoorsman."

"Outdoors…what now?" Naruto questioned, "is that even a word."

Anko groaned, pinching her nose, "it means someone who loves the woods."

"Oh, and then yes, I am that. But, I don't want to just be here, I want to become a Huntsman like my father. I want to fight Grimm, I want to fight bad people, like bandits and stuff!" Naruto excitedly states as he looked up into the clouds, "I want to be able to run faster than wind and move quicker than lightning."

Anko chuckles, "so you want to be a storm?"

"Yes!" Naruto shouted loudly as his tail wagged, "that's what I want to be. Naruto Uzumaki, The Maelstrom Huntsman!"

The boy's cheery nature was infectious as she patted his head and ruffled his hair, the woman stops as they come to a small little StreetSide restaurant and they entered it at Naruto's behest. The two come to face an elderly man with a balding hairline and his young daughter with long chocolate brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Ayame, Old Man Teuichi, I brought a friend!" Naruto points toward Anko as he speaks with mirth, "and she's a Huntress!"

Ayame looked at the woman, smiling with a polite bow, "welcome to Ichiraku. I hope Naruto here hasn't been talking your head off, oh, you can't let your horse under the flaps miss."

The horse whines a little bit, backing away as if it perfectly understood, and Anko laughed. "Good boy, Maki."

"So, Naruto, how was hunting this week?" Teuichi inquires as he sets up a bowl of miso ramen for the little boy, "this one's on the house by the way."

"Oh, cool, thanks old man!" Naruto watches as the bowl slides toward him and smiles as he takes the chopsticks and spun them around before slurping down the noodles.

Teuichi turned to the woman that was accompanying him, "a huntress eh? We don't get many of your cloth around this area, we're not exactly overflowing with Grimm. Busan's local guardsmen usually keep the area around us pretty clear."

"Well, they missed a few good sized Beowulfs the other day, along with a King Taijitu." Anko tells the father and daughter pair, "and little Naruto here was brave enough to try and help me out."

"Naruto!" Ayame chastised the boy, "you've could've been killed."

"I'm fine Ayame, really, Anko here killed them all with one slash of her sword each," Naruto mimicked the movements with the chopsticks, "it was totally awesome!"

"I was awesome wasn't I," Anko then laughs boisterously. "he says he's terrible at swordplay."

"What," Ayame looked incredulously at Naruto, "it's not nice to lie, Naruto."

"But, I'm not, I really do suck…everyone laughs at me when I try practicing at Guards' training grounds. Always telling me that an animal has no business holding a blade, that I'll never be able to get a simple move down." Naruto went on and on as he pointed out his faults, "they said I couldn't even properly thrust my dad's sword."

"Proper…thrust…" Anko couldn't as she laughs, slamming the bar-like table in front of her, "you just stab forward Naruto. Jeez, it is not rocket science, although methodology to the madness can be, they're lying to you, Fishcake."

"Please don't call me that in front of them…" Naruto blushes in embarrassment.

Ayame had just met Anko, and she chuckled, "it is a rather cute and accurate nickname."

"No, it's not, I'm not named after a stinking Fishcake," Naruto said as he ironically popped a Narutomaki into his mouth.

"You need to stop eating yourself," Teuichi pointed at Naruto, who looked at him with a glare.

The blond grumbled, "whatever…darn…old man…and drunk swordsmen…"

"Were you drunk," Ayame looked at Anko, "Ms.…Anko right?"

"Yep, and yep, like a skunk in rain. I work better when I'm drunk, but I'm not half bad sober, besides little Naruto here is brave for an eleven-year-old. Standing up to those big bad Beowulfs, and even throwing a knife into that eye of the King Taijitu." Anko praises, and then got a sly smirk on her face, "even if he did wet himself."

"What, no I didn't I swear, she's lying!" Naruto screams out as his face turned cherry red, "Anko!"

She laughs as she heard her horse whine, "I'll get you some water in a minute Maki, spoiled horse."

"I know this may sound rude but knowing Naruto here he probably let you eat and drink what he had in his home. So, I think you should settle the debt, I'm not accusing you or anything." Ayame told Anko as they got ready for the customer rush.

Anko nodded, then looked outside as she saw a raised platform in the village center, "what's the platform used for?"

"Oh, that rickety old thing, mostly for plays we have every year." Teuichi says as he shrugs, "don't know why you'd have an interest in it."

"Yeah, I really need to get back home anyway Ms. Mitarashi, I need to get the deer here to Teuichi for my payment." Naruto bowed politely as he looked at the old man, "thank you for the ramen!"

"No problem," Teuichi gave Naruto a thumb's up.

As he left the StreetSide restaurant, Anko suddenly appears in front of him, "hey Fishcake."

"Y-yeah," Naruto looked up at her, "that still kind of startles how fast you are."

"Oh, I know, but do me a favor when you bring those deer back…get your dad's sword too." Anko requests as she looked at the blonde boy with a cheerful smile.

'Um, why?" Naruto questioned, "I'm not going to sell it to you…"

"Oh, I know, but I just want you to bring it. C'mon, do it for me, eh?" Anko pressures him, watching crack, and then he nodded with a smile.

"Alright, but I need a promise you won't try to swindle me!" Naruto points at her, "please…?"

"Promise, cross my heart and hope to die." Anko promises him as she held out her pinky, "pinky promise even."

Naruto wrapped his pinky around hers, "alright then, deal!"

* * *

A half an hour passed by, Anko nodded to herself, deciding that it was time to see if Naruto was really lying or if he was being honest. She walked around before looking at the old rickety stage, she determined that it was at least twenty by thirty, thirty feet wide, twenty feet long, a nice sized stage.

She looked around the area, finding several abandoned piles of wood scrap, some it being really thick boards that could be used for footholds somewhat. She looked at Maki, tying him near the stage, and then walking over toward a wooden plank.

It was thick enough in her opinion for someone stand on if it was standing straight up, it was about five long anyway, and at least part of that would be buried in the ground. She walked over to the stage, finding a nice spot just in front of it before slamming the piece of wood down in the ground.

Loud enough to attract people's attention.

She then hopped up, standing up on it, checking to see if it was stable. She smiled as she deemed it so, so the show was ready to start as people stopped what they were doing and looking at her.

"Hear ye all women, gents and soldiers alike! I am The Great Anko Mitarashi, the best damn swordswoman in all of Remnant! I come offering a challenge, I dare you all to take me up on it, for four minutes I request that if you're capable that you'd be willing to step on this stage and duel me." Anko waves her hand toward the same rickety old stage Teuichi had been talking about as she speaks, "and if someone defeats me or lasts the full four minutes."

Reaching into her cloak, where kept her little money purse, she pulled out three golden tales. Each tale was worth easily, give or take a few liens, three thousand liens each. The crowd suddenly dropped what they were doing, running over toward her, surrounding the stage as she hops down.

She even noted many of the guardsmen walking over, if nothing else to provide security, she looked at the crowd, and then she frowned when she hadn't seen Naruto yet. Rolling her eyes, she then took her sword out.

It was inciting some oohs and ahs from the crowd, they were enchanted by the beautiful blade of the chokuto named Kusanagi. She slung it around for a moment, and then looked at a guard as he came up toward the stage.

Holding her hand up, stopping him in his movements, "you can't come up that way to face me. See the thick piece of wood I was standing on?"

"Yeah, what about it?" The guard questioned.

"Simple," Anko hopped from the stage on to the wood and then hopped back as she explained with a pose, "you've got to jump from there to here like I just did."

"Pfft, piece of cake!" The guard walked over to the piece of wood, hopping up and easily getting on top of it.

The guard then declared himself as he stood on the wood, "I am Portokáli Petra, I am gonna beat you!"

Anko rolls her eyes, "sure, and what type of sword do you have?"

"I have a lovely little Xiphos," he then hopped on stage before taking the sword out of its sheath, "lovely isn't it?"

The woman in front of him just shook her head, "oh boy, and here I thought I was holding an awesome sword. Tell you what, if you land one hit on me, I'll even spend the night admiring your _sword_ hot stuff."

The crowd giggles, some were taken aback, while some other guards made lewd comments as they watched their brother in arms get ready. She then took a moment, looking at her scroll, and giggled as she looked at him.

"I've already wasted a minute and a half, whoopsies." She shrugs before stretching her sword arm out, holding the blade straight, "come and get me, boy."

"Yes mam, Yahoo!" Portokáli charges as he screamed, he slung his sword upwards from where he had held it low.

She easily blocked the strike, and yawns as she blocked another…and another…and another. She took a moment, looking at the man, and then smirked as she suddenly threw her shoulder into him. He stumbled backward, coughing slightly from the impact, and she bounced on her feet.

"C'mon, I'm not even trying here, don't want me, soldier?" She teases as he got his bearings before charging, _"typical man."_

Anko dodges with ease, literally spinning and dancing around him as he slashed at her, "and with thirty seconds to go…"

She suddenly dropped low and scissor kicking him to where his face smacked the stage first before kicking him off the stage. All the while still laying down, she rolled her eyes, and then looked at the crowd as she leaned up to where she was sitting lotus style.

"Next!" She screamed with a ferocious grin creeping on her face, "and she watches as another guard jumped up."

"Can I have the same deal, miss…" Anko shook her head and then shrugged.

"Anko Mitarashi, Snake Mistress, and oh yes you can…all you have to do is hit me once…even if you lose." She winked at him, "and oh…I'm still sitting how careless of me~"

"Ya!" The guard screamed as he charged, holding a long sword.

Anko hopped up and kicked him in the face, knocking him out, she then readied her sword as she spun it in her hand. A woman hopped up this time, she charges with a roar, only for Anko to easily deflect the strike and cast her sword out of her hand.

She walked off the stage, defeated.

She licked the blade as she looked at the crowd, "this is too easy, I demand a real challenge before I get bored!"

 _"_ _You better hurry up kiddo, because I will not keep this up, not even for the chance to observe The Flying Thunder God Blade for myself."_ Anko muses as she slices apart the armor of guard, watching him back up in fear, "oopsies."

* * *

Naruto was rushing back as fast he could, he had sweat pouring down from him as he pulled a handcart behind him. He looked at the crowd, watching as a guard went up into the air before being kicked down by Anko.

He stood there amazed as a man tried to jump in, only to get knocked off as a result. The blonde stood there, and then looked at the cart, and then pulled it toward the front of Ichiraku and entered as he saw Ayame there.

"Naruto, your new friend is holding competition, three gold tales, my dad just went there to fight!" Ayame declared and then notices him carrying his father's sword.

She smiles brightly, speaking with pride as she questioned him, "you're going too?"

"Um, Anko just told me to bring my blade…" Naruto tells her, being honest.

She smiled, "well you better go and try them!"

Ayame then looked at the deer in the cart, "I'll get your money later for them, promise!"

She walks out of the restaurant with Naruto following closely behind her, they duck through the crowd to where they stood in the front of it. Teuichi was up, he was doing rather well, forcing Anko to defend a couple of times while he was mostly on the receiving end of it all.

He then gets his sword knocked out of hands, with Anko pointing her sword at him, "surrender?"

"I must, you're quite the skilled young lady, wish I was twenties years younger right now." Teuichi comments as he shook Anko's hand, "I'll take my leave madame."

Teuichi groaned as he got down off the stage, he looked at Ayame and Naruto, "darn it all…my back is a little out."

"Dad, you really should've just taken it easy, you did well though!" Ayame cheerfully spoke at the end, congratulating her father.

Teuichi sighed, "yeah, but that three tales would've allowed us to move out of the village and into the city…"

"I know pops, but we can always earn it the old fashion way." Ayame pats her father's back, "and look who brought their sword."

"Yeah, look, the animal brought his daddy's sword!" A teenager who got knocked out pointed at Naruto, "what are you going to do with it, swing and miss?!"

Naruto lowered his head, taking a deep breath as he looked Ayame and Teuichi. He steeled himself, they had been his friends for a long time and they deserved better than this crummy village!

"I'll fight, what's the rules," Naruto yelled as pride became aflame in his eyes, "and I'll win no matter what!"

Anko looked at Naruto, smiling as she watches him walk toward the stage, only for the previous teen to scream out. "You can't go that way dumbass, you've gotta go up the wood beam and jump there!"

Naruto looked at the piece of wood that the teen was talking about, taking a deep breath, he then looked at it. "Rules Ms. Mitarashi?"

"You gotta beat me, or last four minutes, got it in you Fishcake?" Anko teases as she watches the blonde hesitate for a moment, "doesn't hurt to try, right?"

Naruto ran toward the piece of wood, but instead of going up top to jump off, he took three large steps before flinging himself on to the stage. He took a moment to turn around, the sword on his back, half his size.

 _"_ _Unfortunately for you, you're still a little young to wield that type of sword properly, requiring you use two hands. The Flying Thunder God Blade is a Jian, but you did say it felt like nothing in your hands…lets see what you meant."_ Anko readied herself, she took a moment to look at him and realize that the smiles were gone.

A stern looking face replaced the child's smile, he took another deep breath before unsheathing the blade from the scabbard, placing the scabbard on the ground. He then held the sword in a similar manner to hers, only that he had his back arm lowered while the sword-wielding arm was raised up.

She chuckled, walking toward him, only for him to suddenly dash toward her. Her eyes widened as she was forced to block almost immediately, sparks flew off the blade as he clashed against several times and when she tried to give a very halfhearted strike, she was surprised that was miles away from it.

He was very fast!

Naruto circled around her, rapidly, going to the very edge of the stage, she watched as red aura formed over him. He then stopped, heavily broadcasting where he was going to come from, however when he did he tried to thrust at her.

She deflected the thrust with ease and watched as his sword nearly came out his hand. However, when he let goes of it, he then switched to left hand which caught it. Her eyes widened as she backed up just in time to avoid being hit.

Naruto stood there, holding his sword in his left hand, breathing hard as his aura was flickering slightly. Perhaps his main drawback was not really getting trained at all, but for being self-taught, he was pretty good!

Naruto and Anko circled each other, the crowd was silent as the blonde and violetnette spun on their heels and switches hands with their blade. She chuckled, watching him copy her, he was a natural!

Or, very likely still, it could be a copycat semblance and he had been hiding in the crowd.

Either way, Anko liked!

She dashed first, catching him off guard, and she made him pay for it by kneeing him in the gut. He coughed up as he slid backward, nearly off the stage, but lowered himself down to where he stopped his slide. Rolling forward when Anko tried to swipe at him, using his shortness to duck under another slash as she spun around.

Naruto took a deep breath as he blocked a slash but was forced to hold the sword with two hands when Anko put a little strength behind it. Truth be told she was slightly rigging the competition toward Naruto's favor, but she just wanted to see if he had grit.

He had a _lot_ of grit.

He used his lower height to slide up her sword with his, sparks flying off the swords, and then he tried to kick her leg. She looked down at him like a wolf would a gnat, she rolled her eyes and kicked him back. Unlike him, she had oomph behind her kick, and that sent him skidding back across the stage.

She spun her sword around, playing around as she took out her scroll, "and thirty seconds left, well…sorry Fishcake."

She charged right at him, half-heartedly mind you, but even a half-hearted and sober Anko was leagues above the child that was Naruto. However, her overconfidence got rewarded when the blonde charged at her as well and slid under her.

Strangely, even if sounds horrible, she had forgotten how small he was and how nimble. He got up, just as she was turning around to block him, she felt a light prick on her back. He had reversed gripped the blade, holding it to her back.

Truth be told she could easily come up with several different ways to counter that little trick he did, but this was just a game to her.

It wasn't a real fight.

The crowd gasps filled the air, Ayame's and Teuichi's bright smiles lit up as Naruto removed his sword from near her back. He rolled forward, just in case she was a sore loser and picked up his sheath before clicking the sword back in it.

Suddenly he lurched forward, nearly falling off the stage if Anko hadn't caught him by the arm.

"He's out, he's out!" The teen called, "that animal kid is out, he lost!"

"Actually," Anko held up her scroll, "that _animal_ kid beat me by three seconds before he slid under me."

The crowd was in an uproar, all of them coming up with arguments, others saying that they were in on it together to cheat them for their own entertainment, and others claimed she wasn't trying as hard as she was earlier.

That last one was partially true, up until the end.

Ayame quickly got over toward Naruto, "is he okay?"

"Yeah, just exhausted his aura reserves for the day, little brat is quick to use it without being able to properly maintain it." Anko picked him up and then heard him murmur something.

She leaned back to hear him, "what was that Fishcake?"

"Give the tales to Ayame and Teuichi…" he murmurs as he yawns, "need…nap…"

Anko took a moment to realize what he said, then she smirked, after all these years she found someone worthy enough.

It would seem The White Snake Sword would be training The Flying Thunder God Blade newest user, after all, she had been looking for someone probably worth the trouble.

She just hoped he'd take her up on the offer.


	3. Chapter 3

**_(I was thinking of doing a poll, Naruto x Yang, or Naruto x Blake? Two simple choices. To get to the poll, simply click on my name, and there you have it on my profile. Don't be a stranger either, send me a PM. Say hi, or just tell me if I am doing good or bad on my story! The next poll will be in a week, and it'll concern a rename of this story or not. Remember to send in the suggestions, thank you!)_**

* * *

"Eh?!" Naruto screeched as he was looking at Anko, "you want me to just leave my home and everything behind!"

"Yeppers, you pretty much sum it up Fishcake, I mean c'mon you did say you wanted to become a Huntsman, didn't you?" Anko looked at the child as she buttered him up a little, "and I'm the best teacher you'll ever get."

"How many people have you taught?" Naruto inquires as he hangs upside down from a tree, trying to meditate and relax before Anko blindsided him with the idea.

Anko rubbed the back of her head, giving him a toothy grin, "honestly Fishcake…you'd be my first student."

Naruto looked at her, sighing as he let his legs slack and he fell to the ground on his hands, he looked at her and then at the home his dead and he had shared all of his life up until two years ago.

"I'm pretty sure your house will still be here, just in case you want to come to Busan, or to keep yourself a place to go just in case things go way south in the journey we call life." Anko threw out there as she reached her hand out, "life has so much to offer besides Busan anyhow."

He blinked at her, sighing as he looked down at the ground, "yeah but who'll tend my father's grave?"

"Kid," Anko looked him dead in his eyes as she pulled his chin up to where their eyes could meet. "Don't take this the wrong way. All that is there is just a pile of bones, a hole, a stone."

"That's father!" Naruto screamed as he backed away from her, "he was everything to me!"

"And, he's gone Fishcake, I bet he wouldn't want to keep you here suffering. Besides, you seem like a little religious goodie-goodie. So, you believe in the soul, well his soul isn't in his body anymore and isn't it the soul that makes you, you?" Anko questioned philosophically as she rubbed her chin, "and if that's the case, are you truly tending to your father?"

Naruto gripped his hands, tight enough to where his knuckles turned white, he then looked at the ground. He watches as fireflies gather around the area, signaling that the night was coming, he took a deep breath and looked at Anko.

The blonde nodded, "okay…"

Anko clapped her hands and squealed a little, "finally, I got my first victim-I mean student!"

Naruto blanched slightly, leaning forward, slightly weirded out her line of celebration. She then looked at him, shrugging, and then watches as the sun goes down toward a large mountain.

"Well, Fishcake, better get some sleep. I'll be packing your stuff, don't worry, I have a method!" Anko states as he looked at her, tilting his head to the side.

Naruto blinked, "it's going to be something that is ludicrous and makes me question everything…isn't it?"

Anko clicks her tongue, chuckling, "you're pretty good Fishcake."

"Please," Naruto begs a little, "stop calling me Fishcake~"

Anko was surprised by how heavy a sleeper Naruto was, he slept through her moving all of the furniture into a pile. A large scroll rolled out underneath it, his clothes were easy to get since she could just blatantly walk into his room and get them.

She discovered, hilariously, that he had a manner of fish pajamas and even underwear. The pile of clothing, unorganized, was resting on top of a much smaller scroll than the furniture. She was whistling Hall of The Mountain King as she walked toward the closet, grabbing food cans and ramen packs.

Tossing them onto the floor, right on top of a much thinner scroll than the others, she continued whistling, plucking pictures off the wall as she kicked a scroll to unfurl it on the ground. She found one of Minato standing, young, probably before having Naruto and meeting his mother.

"Mmhmm," she licked her lips as she looked at him. _"I wonder if Naruto will grow up to look that good, who knows hehehe~"_

She tempted to keep it for a more _personal stash_ of photos in another scroll, but she decided against it, placing it on top of the pile of pictures and such. Whistling still, she skipped across the kitchen, into the living room, and then came to the ultimate thing she was going to need in Naruto's training.

The Flying Thunder God Blade itself, she giggled, picking it up and then curiosity took hold of her. She attempted to pull it out of the scabbard, pleasantly surprised when she couldn't, meaning the holding seal was intact on the sword.

The Shinobi Clans taught the users of their techniques well.

The Fox Clan no doubt Naruto's clan and his father's.  
The Snake Clan in which she trained in.  
The Silver Bird Clan to which she was formerly born into but cast out.  
The Bear Clan.  
The Shark Clan.  
The Hornet Clan.  
The Dragon Clan.  
The Brawen Clan.

They weren't blood-related, even the members weren't, it was just a small collection of individuals who learned the ways of old and was able to muster the courage to look into the unknown. Magic was as old as time itself, aura and its many names being the catalyst and fuel for its use.

Anko chuckled as she looked at the piles of stuff across the house, debating on either waiting for Naruto to wake up and show him what she meant by magic, or to simply scare and say that she had gotten drunk and someone broke in.

She chose the first option after a moment of the debate.

Walking toward the front door, yawning, she opened the door and walked toward Maki. The horse whined a little bit, she looked at the reason, finding it had a wound on its side from an earlier encounter with Grimm that Anko decided to hunt down for fun.

She applied her hand over the wound, forming a symbol with her hands that involved her middle and ring fingers being bent and connected. Her index and pink stood up, connect while her thumb was folded inside of her palm.

"Yang Release," Anko called forth the spell as she changed the hand seal she was holding up, "Mending Technique."

putting her hands together, ring fingers cross each other to touch opposite index fingers, middle fingers crossed over them. Index finger, pinky and she kept her thumb straight. The glow of a light green flowed from her hand and into the wound.

The horse began to relax.

The wound on its body closed, rapidly healing faster than natural nature would allow, but what she was doing was just the manipulation of nature. These mudra, hand seals, were key to forming these techniques and she was a master of all mudra even if she couldn't use all techniques or even the natural forms of them.

Taking a deep breath, ending the spell, she patted the horse and smiled. "There, there Maki, that's a good boy."

The woman walked away from the horse, back into the house, and looked at the bare bones of it all except for the furniture. She even had the television set over a scroll, she did all of this just in case Naruto wanted to really become a Huntsman after she showed him her way of life, slowly though.

Plus, it'd be great to have a T.V in a safe house, she had one in every city, even the defunct Mantle, and they were all under different names. No one batted an eye at her, not even when she gave a name that was like flower children.

Bloom Violet.

She wasn't ashamed of the way she acted, it was how she was trained, and it did wonders to get her far in life. Shinobi's were like Huntsman, save warriors of the shadow rather than the famed Huntsmen being in the light.

Unlike Huntsman, which were many and far common, Shinobi like her were _very rare_ , rarer still were ones that could put forth mudra and be casting into actual practice.

The things described as miraculous in ancient books, from those able to dance with fire, to those walking on water are all examples of casting and control of what she was still mastering as time went on.

Her master had been arrogant, believing that one could truly master the ways of nature, but in all reality, if there was such a way it died out a long time ago. Other than that, even if one could master nature, there'd still be so much experimentation that one never truly masters it all.

An infinite expanse of knowledge, and all of it available for a limited finite mind.

* * *

 ** _Shinobi of the new age!  
Chapter Three: Leaving Busan, your training begins, Fishcake!_**

* * *

Naruto screams out in the morning as he looked at the piles of clothing, furniture, and other stuff. "Wh-what did you do to my home?!"

"Huh, oh shit, you're awake at last!" Anko happily states as she gets up from the ground by hopping up from her back, "like the redecorating?"

"Redecorating!" Naruto screamed as he gripped his hair, "you've trashed my home, Anko!"

"Ah, ah, ah." She wagged her finger and then looked at him, "we're taking home with us…sort of."

"What," Naruto looked down and saw parchment under the piles of stuff, "what is that?"

"Oh that, that my little student is your mistress's little method of transportation. By the way, Fishcake fits you very well since you got a bunch of fish pajamas and froggy underwear." Anko then rubbed the back of her head and looked at him, "so you ready to see something cool?"

Naruto sighed, rolling his eyes, "I guess…as long as it doesn't destroy my home…"

Anko rubbed her nose, waving his melancholily off despite him seeing his house trashed, he watches her then form a hand seal.

"Okay Fishcake, back away from the pile!" She ordered him with a lighthearted yell, smiling brightly as she interlaced her fingers and slapped her palm together, "Sealing Art: Storage Seal!"

Naruto then gasps as they all suddenly turned to smoke, getting pulled into the parchments which suddenly rolled up, tying themselves with strings even, he stood there like a deer in headlights. Unmoving, mouth hanging wide open, and then it finally clicked.

"You weren't lying about magic, holy crap, that was totally wicked!" Naruto screamed out as he ran around the house, nothing was there now save the house itself, "what happened to everything?"

"I stored them in the scrolls, so long as they exist you stuff will exist and if something tears them apart…well…" Anko lightly waved it off as she chuckled, "poof."

Naruto winces, looking at the scrolls, and then smiles brightly. "This is so cool, and you're gonna teach me this?"

"Yep, so long as you obey my commands and stuff like that, all that good master-student bullshit. Anyway, when would you like to learn?" She asked with a cheery smile.

"R-right now, I wanna learn it right now!" Naruto stated as he looked at her, his tail wagging with joy.

Anko laughs, patting his shoulder before her eyes looked into his, "you'll learn it in due time."

"Wh-what, but why ask me when?!" Naruto complains as she picks up the scrolls around her, attaching them to a backpack she carried on her back under her cloak, "I bet I could get it done easily!"

"Sealing, maybe, other things not so much. You see, Sealing Arts are based on four-level symbols. Level one seals are things like what you just saw, and level four are things involving distorting time. Sometimes these seals can manifest naturally, in semblances, but don't be mistaken…there's a difference between semblance and magic." Anko tells him as he tossed the biggest scroll out the door, with landing in a pouch on Maki.

The horse's neigh indicating the impact had been rather unpleasant.

Naruto walked out with her, shutting the door and locking it, "so when do we leave?"

"Right now," Anko tells him as she hopped up on the horse.

Naruto goes to get on the horse, only for Anko to block him, "huh?"

"You need work on your cardio a little kid, plus build some muscle, if you're going to learn how to use a blade properly you must master your body first…and it'll be painful~" She hums out loud, making him wince.

Naruto spoke as he rubbed the back of his head, "um, why is that a good thing?"

"Oh, no reasons, just the daily torture…err…training you'll be going through. Besides, you want to be Huntsman, and learn my tricks, so here we are the beginning. So, all you need to do is just L.W.L." Anko then held up three fingers and put them as she gave the abbreviation meaning, "Learn, Watch, Listen."

Anko then nodded, sipping out of her bottle, "but once we start this there is no quit."

Naruto nodded, "I understand."

"Do you really," Anko says as she continued drinking. "You don't get a second chance with me boy, and there's a chance you won't be coming back."

The blonde held his head down, his fists gripping hard. "I know, but what else is there. You say I have a talent for something, and that I should, no one other than the Ichiraku family said I would amount to anything."

He grimaces as he starts to cry a little, "I just want a chance, a chance to prove that I am someone. I want a chance to prove that I, Uzumaki Naruto, am alive."

Anko looked at him, nodding, "alright then. You'll be expected to never quit, fight with Grimm, and be badass at the end of it all."

"I promise!" Naruto promised loudly, "you'll get no quit out of me."

"Good." Anko then took a deep breath, "you'll be going behind me on foot."

Naruto nodded, "alright, so all I could do is just walk behind you? That's a piece of cake!"

Anko laughs, slapping Maki slightly as she roars out, she looked right at Naruto. "Oh, Fishcake, walking?! Hahaha, oh no, I'm gonna run you like a race dog."

"Eh," Naruto tilted his head, "what's a race dog?"

Anko leaned toward him, she gave him a toothy smile as she told him what a race dog was, "you are silly~"

* * *

Maki was in full gallop, Anko was on the back of the horse enjoying some fine liquor, she looked behind her to see a bare-chested Naruto Uzumaki running at full speed behind her. He was very fast, but for his age and being able to keep up with a horse? That was impressive.

The blonde was breathing hard, sweat rolled down his body, the first five miles had been a piece of cake!

Then five miles turned into ten, ten turned to fifteen, fifteen turned to a never-ending leg cramp for the last forty-five miles. The sun was high above the plains they were now running in, no tree cover, the longest he's ever been from home!

Anko suddenly stopped Maki, the blonde behind her nearly ran into the horse, but stumbled in front of it as he collapsed, she looked at him, chuckling.

"So, how was the run kid, been about two hours. I was surprised you were able to jump an over a stream Maki barely made over, good job!" Anko gives him a thumb's up, "but now I need you to stand on your hands."

"Huh?" Naruto looked up from the ground, he watched her cross her arms.

"You'll be doing upside down pushups until I get back," Anko tells him as she grabs her sword. "Oh, and I sealed your sword in a scroll, in case you were wondering."

"What," Naruto screamed as he looked at her. "What if something happens?!"

"Well too bad I guess, any way you better be doing those pushups, because you're not I'm gonna cut your hands off~" Anko sang as she walked away, and then looked at him and winked.

Naruto felt fear, was she being serious?

Normally this would be a no, but from what he's seen of this Anko woman from the last three days, and add in the fact that she never lied to him before…

The blonde got on his hands, breathing he began to bend his arms up and down, doing the pushups as ordered. It couldn't be so bad, his legs were dead tired, but his arms were good to go!

Besides, the night was coming in a few hours, he doubted she'd make him run another eighty miles!

After all, Naruto was sure they left Busan's entire area the last ten miles, and he knew it had to be eighty because he was behind Maki who had run at full gallop. Horses were fast creatures, and he was just as fast, and it wasn't like he'd be a normal person with aura and all.

Anko was hiding behind a little boulder inside of the plains, she chuckled, _"fear is my greatest training tool…Muahaha."_

She got up and walked away, going for a nice peaceful walk while drinking the liquor she carried with her. She wanted some peace and quiet, a nice buzz, and then she'd continue to test Naruto for a breaking point later.

The woman was behind on her schedule, and she had a duel to win at Haven Academy against an instructor who called for an open challenge any sword wielders in Mistral. Supposedly he called himself the great Mistralian swordsman alive, and Anko was more than happy to set the date up.

A date of love, romance, and swords.

Minus the love and romance.

Just swords, and possibly a very painful ass kicking.

* * *

Anko was riding Maki again, Naruto looked like hell as he followed behind her, "I was hoping we'd make camp!"

The woman was pickled as she got the last of her liquor, throwing the bottle behind her and forcing Naruto to dodge, "bitch-bitch-bitch, seriously Fishy, you be bitchy~"

The woman drunk, he had run another thirty miles since doing the pushups, he had tears brimming at his eyes as he felt both of his legs cramping. The tears were comical in a way, he was scared they'd lock up and he'd collapse.

Anko looked at him, outwardly she was scowling and being judgmental, inwardly she was ready for him to call it a day. _"All you gotta do is tell me when you want to stop."_

Naruto breathing became hoarser as he continued to follow her through the night, he had long taken his shoes off due to the soles being worn down, to begin with. His tail was waving behind him, free of care, he kept going as fast he could.

"Remember Fishcake, you can't stop until I tell you to stop!" Anko warns him and then she reaches down, finding there was no more alcohol, "motherfucker…"

Suddenly she heard a thump, looking behind her as Naruto fell down, and Maki was quickly gaining ground. "Maki!"

Maki stopped, nearly slinging her off, she got off the horse and stumbled about as she got toward Naruto. Grabbing the back hem of his pants and hoisting him up, he placed him over her shoulder and walked back over to Maki.

"Alright kid, you wanna keep going to till you collapse, fine. Just don't think it wins you brownie points, my little student." She pats his head, setting him to where she could tie his legs and made sure he was secured on the horse.

* * *

Naruto was doing crunches on the ground as Anko ordered him to do so, it's been five days since he started his training, nearly a full week. He was bruised on his legs, she had him to knee crawls across a few miles over hard stones.

He felt sick and turned over in time to vomit on the ground, he was breathing hard as he stood up. She told him to keep going until he got sick, well with the stomach cramp and the vomiting, he had thought he qualified for being able to quit for the day.

Anko was sitting on a tree limb above him, "get some water, and get ready to keep working on that cardio and lower body strength!"

Naruto nodded, walking and getting the canteen. He drank the contents quickly, draining it bone dry as he swallowed in big gulps. Burping as he got done, he placed the canteen back in a pouch on Maki, taking a deep breath as he stretches.

The woman hopped off the branch and landed on Maki, "and get ready to run again!"

"Gah!" Naruto grimaces loudly, he began to run as Maki took off.

* * *

Anko came to see the walls of Mistral City, a couple of weeks of trekking across Anima, and finally, she would have her duel. Naruto behind her was struggling to stand up, the last couple of weeks had been hell to him probably.

However, not once had he said he wanted to stop, no one.

The kid had a heart of gold, but a brain of bronze.

She looked at him as they were able to enter the city when she scanned her scroll, "welcome to Mistral City, Fishcake."

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the buildings all around inside of the huge wall, he looked at the bustling streets, and the people riding bikes across the roads and up and down large stairs. He saw a giant templelike structure on top of the second mountain.

"That right there is Haven Academy, Fishcake," Anko pointed out the second mountain's large structure.

He was helped up by Anko, "and this where you'll be taking your first break. We'll be in Mistral City for a few days, so let's relax a little bit."

Anko looked at Naruto as he looked at the city with mesmerized eyes, the blonde smiles and felt the cool air run over his hands, the blue-eyed Faunus smiles brightly. The woman smiles at him warmly before holding out her hand, Naruto looked up at her.

She nodded, "c'mon Fishcake, you earned your ride."

He took her hand and gets hoisted up on the horse, the blonde child looked at the roads as they headed toward stairs that would lead to the top of the twin mountains, the closer they got the evidence of a sort of small bridge became apparent between the two mountains.

"You look starstruck Fishcake," Anko said as she looked to where he was looking, "that's The Road of Heroes."

"Road…of…heroes." Naruto breathes as he looked at it, "it is amazing…"

"All new students in Haven take that road, its decorated with the names of fallen Huntsman and Students alike. The Road of Heroes is a memorial like no other kiddo, a memorial made to get names closer to the anyone upstairs." Anko tells Naruto as she felt Maki go up the steps.

Naruto looked around, "so where will we be staying?"

Anko laughs a little bit, looking at the various apartments and such, "I have a safe house nearby."

* * *

The blonde looked at the small apartment room as they entered it, "so are we going to talk about how you shed sometimes?"

"Not really," Naruto tells her as he rubbed the back of his head, "my fur can turn white on my tail in winter. But, it hasn't been white in over three years."

"White you say, that's an unusual color. So, what will it be this year, isn't it Spring?" Anko questioned as she took the small scrolls with clothing and made the clothes appear.

Naruto walked over, picking up an orange pair of tie-up shorts, a yellow T-shirt, and some underwear with frogs on them.

"I got soap in the pile too, so Fishcake, get cleaned up," Anko tells him as she walks toward the door, taking her sword.

Naruto looked at her, "w-where are you going?"

"I am going to meet an old friend, you just stay here, I got a T.V in my room but once I am back you'll be moving to the couch." Anko tells him, "just don't do anything bad on my bed~"

Naruto blushes, "w-what?"

She giggled, walking out of the room, leaving Naruto there blushing still.

She was demented.

* * *

Anko hadn't worn a dress in a long time, however, the one-piece dress, violet in nature, allowed movement if she still needed it. Walking into Devil May Cry, a very big nightclub in Mistral, the woman found her old friend drinking a beer at the bar.

He sat there, drinking it as he had a piece of cloth over his right eye, taking a deep breath as he looked at Anko as she took a seat by him.

"The Silver Bird flies in the sunset," Anko says as she tapped the bar, a barman giving her a beer.

"To land as the moon rises with it," her friend says as he sipped his beer, "hello Anko."

"So how have you been, Dante?" Anko looked at the man, watching him chuckle.

"I've been good, come for another round?" Dante winked at her as he leaned back in the chair, "hmm."

"Sorry, too busy at the moment, but I was wondering if my father is still asking about me?" Anko inquired from her old friend, "after all what is one of the fellow clan for?"

"Former," Dante corrects, "until your old man cast you out for showing promise in darker forms of the magic we use."

"Can't help it, Orochimaru got me curious, taught me everything and more. He died, by the way, a few years back. Been journeying the world ever since, gaining a reputation of being a great swordswoman, and all around badass." Anko told him as she popped the cap off the beer with her teeth, "and I've come here for a simple duel."

Dante chuckled, "simple duel…my fucking ass Anko, you're here for information."

"Lionheart plays the deck, I am merely needing twenty-one to win the game, and I am hunting for my next big paycheck." Anko sips her beer after she speaks and then hums, "I see you got married."

"I did, I have a daughter on the way." Dante chuckled as he sipped his beer, "she'll be born within my Clan's rights."

"I know, so why to ask me for a round~" She teases as she took a deep breath, hearing the music.

"Merely a joke, Anko, merely a joke. Alabasters never cheat, also, I smell a scent on you." Dante said as he finished his beer, "you had a kid?"

"No, I got a Fishcake with me. He's a real sweet kid, I'm guessing Fox Clan, his father died of cancer a few years back. Minato Namikaze's to be more exact," Anko finished her beer, tossing it into the bin.

"Fuckin hell, you got Minato's kid, you lucky bitch." Dante says as he gets another beer, "is he a father's son or a mother's son?"

"Definitely his father's, he's a strong-willed little guy, great at archery more so than the blade." Anko got another beer, "and I am aiming to change the outlook of The Snake Clan's reputation within our little secret shadow civilization."

"Hahaha," Dante laughs as he took the top of his beer, "don't worry Anko, your secret is safe with me. By the way, be aware there is a murderer about, the strange thing is that he's hunting kids."

"Get out of here, really?" Anko frowns as she sipped her beer, "some evil fucks in this world man…"

"Yeah, just giving you heads up when you're away from this Fishcake kid, he stalks the upper sector and middle sector." Dante gets up from the bar, waving at Anko with his scroll, "if something comes up you know where to reach me."

"Right, I got you, take care of yourself, Dante. By the way, was it a boy or girl, haven't told me yet asshole!" Anko called out to him, "well?"

"Little girl, she's about ten, Petal." Dante takes a deep breath, "and now if you excuse me I have to go duel someone with a scythe and an attitude…hell of a drinker though."

"Don't get killed!" Anko yelled at him, "you got family back home asshole!"

Dante flipped her off as was laughing and as he walks back into the crowd, "hey Qrow, the fuck are you at, you emo motherfucker!"


	4. Chapter 4

Anko was asleep on her bed as Naruto was in the living room, he was folding clothes and stretching as he began to get ready to do crunches. He wanted to keep exercising and keep his mid-body and lower strength growing.

The blonde took a moment to make a game of balling his clothes up and tossing them into a rolled-up pile, trying to see if he could make them stack as he did crunches. He so far didn't manage to make one land on top of each other.

Rolling his eyes as he finished with his clothes, the blonde just grumbles as he gets up from the floor. He jogged in place, he never was one to like being cooped up in small places, did he have claustrophobia?

The boy took a deep breath, he had lived by himself two years and he never needed anyone else before now.

Getting on some black sweatpants and a blue long sleeve shirt, Naruto tucked walked over to a drawer and opened it before he took to looking at his survival knife he packed almost every time he went somewhere. Taking a moment, the blonde just slides the drawer back to close.

He got his father's scroll, however, quickly grabbing a pen and writing down the time he was going out. Putting down that he should be back within a couple of hours, he reached into a sack that was on the table, pulling out a few liens that had an orange mark on them.

His liens.

Walking out toward the door that was in the kitchen, Naruto took a moment and looked around, sighing as he exited out the door.

* * *

Naruto was walking around the city, making landmark notes mentally as he looked around the middle and upper quarters of the city. He smiled, taking a look as aircraft flew over, Bullheads.

He never got to see one at Busan, but here in the big city he could, they were much bigger than he imagined.

Mesmerized as he took in all of the sights, the other children running around and happily playing with some sort of ball. The ball was white, it had black spots in the shape of hexagons. The kids were playing a wide street, having two nets at the end of it.

He even noticed another Faunus playing with them, a rabbit Faunus with long bunny ears.

The ball was kicked hard, missing the net, ending up near him. The same bunny girl ran over toward him, just as his foot hit the ball, he picked it up and looked at her.

"Hey, hey, can we have our ball back?" the bunny girl questioned as she looked at him.

Naruto looked at her long brown hair, her chocolate brown eyes, blushing slightly as he held the ball out toward her. "What game are you playing?"

"Oh, its soccer mate wanna join. Bit lob sided we are, but, my best mate Yats makes up for it with his size as a goalie." The girl tells Naruto, she smiled as she looked at him, "how old you chap?"

"I'm eleven, you?" Naruto inquired as he rubbed the back of his head, his tail unfurling from around his waist.

"Oh, me, I'm twelve mate. Wanna play could always use another pair of hands, Fox isn't too terrible with Coco and Reese." She held out her hand and smiled, "I'm Velvet by the way…nice seeing another Faunus running about."

"Hear that, I'm from a small village called Busan, I was the only Faunus there." Naruto told her as he rubbed the back of his head, "I'm Naruto, by the way, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Well, Naruto, like I said I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina, now c'mon, we'll grab Arslan out of the roundtable to balance the teams out."

"Arslan?" Naruto questioned Velvet as they walked over toward the game area.

"Yo, Vel, who's this guy?" A very tall, very broad shouldered young teen questioned as he walked over toward Velvet.

"Yats, this is Naruto, Naruto this Yats." Naruto looked up at the taller boy, "Yats we got the room for another with Arslan in our game, yeah?"

"Guy's a midget Vel, Co, what'cha think?" Yats questioned the young teen girl who was walking toward them, she had a pair of sunglasses on her head.

Coco looked at Naruto, "Yats is right Vel. Fox here is almost short as me, and this guy must be like three foot."

"I'm three-two," Naruto argued, "I'm still growing, didn't hit my growth spurt yet!"

"Well then, I guess the midget wants to play with us. Hey midget you in for it, get with Velvet's team!" Yats yelled out as he smiled and ran back, "alright, let's get guys!"

Yats, Coco, Velvet, Fox, Arslan, Reese, and a black-haired boy all got in the center.

"Okay, we've got a newcomer, so Ren. You'll be in, get ready, alright?" The black-haired boy nodded, he had a single pink strand of hair over his right eye.

* * *

 ** _Shinobi of the new age!  
Chapter four: Mistral City Part One: The Loneliness We Share._**

* * *

Velvet's team had herself, Yats, Arslan, and Naruto.

Coco's team had herself, Reese, Fox, and Ren.

Naruto was put at goalie; his sole goal was just to keep the ball from getting in the net. The blonde was just standing in the middle of the goal, he could use his full body if he wanted as explained by Velvet, who wanted to "break him in" as a player.

The blonde watched as Coco got up in Velvet's face as she kicked the ball away, right toward Reese who was shuffling it between her feet to keep it away from Arslan. Yats was coming up when she managed to slip past him and run for the goal with the ball shuffling between her feet.

The girl smirked as she looked at the younger kid in front of her, "hey, foxy, where's it going!"

She kicked it hard, expecting Naruto to get sent back with it, she had a hell of a kick after all. Only Naruto surprised her when he caught the ball relatively easily, he then tosses it toward Yats who smirked as he began to charge.

Ren came behind Yats, sliding and kicking the ball away from him and toward Coco. Coco smirked, kicking the ball in a curve that was sure to go in the goal, Naruto, however, surprised her when he merely jumped up and caught it.

The blonde chuckled, "this is fun!"

He threw the ball toward Velvet, she smirked as she kicked it up and hit with her knee to make it go over Ren. Ren watched as Yats jumped and then slammed his leg into it. Fox's eyes widened, their near white pupils expanding heavily as he was hit with the ball.

Fox groaned, getting up, "really Yatsuhashi, really~"

"Sorry bro," Yats yelled out, "but if any consolation you managed to catch it!"

"Gah, screw you, Coco!" Fox yelled out as he tosses the ball.

Coco shuffled the ball between her feet as she got it, smirking as she managed to pass Velvet and then passes it to Ren. Ren was shuffling the ball between his feet as he advanced toward Naruto, kicking it between Yats legs as the ball curved.

"I got it!" Naruto screamed out, jumping for it.

However, he ends up getting smacked in the face with it. Making everyone wince as he hit the ground, making everyone walk over toward him. He got up, his nose was bleeding from he got busted just right. But, instead of a sniveling mess like they expected, he was smiling brightly.

"Told ya!" He declared as he Ren, "gotcha!"

"Um, Naruto, your nose is broken." Velvet disgustingly points out, grimacing at the amount of blood flowing from it.

Naruto put his hand up, seeing the thick blood on his fingers, he merely shrugs as he noticed a nearby fountain.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back!" Naruto tells them, but not before straightening his nose with an audible crack.

Something that even made Yats wince.

* * *

A couple of hours passed as he was now not the goalie, but playing in the line, he shuffled the ball rapidly between his feet as he spun around and then kicked the ball. Fox's eyes widened as he barely missed the ball before it went in the goal.

"GOOOOAAAAL!" Yats screamed out as he held up Velvet, running around with her, putting her down both just did a tease toward Coco's team.

Arslan smirked, but Naruto just rubbed the back of his head.

"This is the best day off school, ever," Yats yelled as he looked at Naruto, "good job little guy."

"Thanks, um, Yats!" Naruto yelled out.

The fox Faunus tail wagged as he rubbed the back of his head, "wanna go another round?"

"Nah, we're good, we got school in the morning. Hey, Naruto, aren't you apart of Sanctum?" Arslan questions as she looked at him.

"Um, what's Sanctum?" Naruto bashfully inquired as he lightly held up his hand.

Everyone stopped, looking at the boy, with Arslan looking at Velvet.

Velvet rubbed the back of her head, "you know, the prepping academies for Huntsman. There's one in every city, you got Signal in Vale, Sanctum in…Atlas in Atlas…."

"Sorry, I'm from a village out in the west, so this is all new to me. Um, Velvet, are you all training to be Huntsman?" Naruto inquired, a hopeful smile on his face.

Ren nodded, "yeah we are, why?"

"How cool is it?!" Naruto giddily asks as he looked at them all and realized, "I went toe to toe with Huntsmen in training!"

"Yeah…" Coco rubbed the back of her head, "you see…um…"

"We only kind of play with people from Sanctum," Fox finished for her as he looked at Naruto, "so…um…"

Velvet looked at them, "well mates, he's good right, I mean c'mon."

"It's not that Velvet, we're just only supposed to play with other students just in case someone got hurt…like him." Naruto winced when he was being pointed at.

 _"_ _Freak!"  
"Get out of here fleabag!"  
"No furry allowed!"  
"Animal!"_

Naruto sighed, he turned away from them, "I'm sorry…"

The blonde put his hands in his pockets, walking away.

Ren looked at Fox and Coco with a glare, along with Velvet and Yats. Arslan and Reese were indifferent, they could care less of what was going as they walked away to get some food. Coco looked at them, shrugging as she turned to her friends, then becoming aware of their glare.

"What?" Coco inquired.

Velvet just shook her head, "hey remember the talk we had about being subtle, that wasn't subtle!"

"Yeah, Coco, I mean c'mon the little guy is okay. He held his own pretty good actually, who knows, he's probably like Renny here." Yats pointed his thumb at Ren.

"I have a distinct feeling that is partially true, yes, wait where'd he go?" Ren asks as he looked around for Naruto before noticing a scroll on the ground.

Ren walked over to it, picking it up, "Minato?"

He pulled it open, discovering that it had Naruto's picture in it, along with someone who looked like him minus the vulpine traits. He sighed, looking at the photo, reminding him of the times he had with his own family.

He sighed, "better go find him, besides I need to pick up Nora's medicine anyway."

* * *

Naruto was wandering aimlessly through the city, taking a moment to just look at the various stores and families hanging out in the little eateries across the street. The blonde just sighed, watching as children laughed, playing around him.

Why did they get to smile, enjoy each other, but here he was cast out because of not being something…once again?

The sun was shining, the skies were blue, it was a warm spring day. It was perfect, save for the ending to it, Naruto's new friends apparently thought he was a student in a prep academy, but when they found he wasn't they just cast him out!

It burned him deep, it made him hurt, and it made him angry!

He was just trying to find his place in this lonely world, it seemed that it didn't belong anywhere now. Mistral just felt like a larger, more populated, Busan.

Save that instead of racism, he discovered a new cruelty, classism, and isolationism.

The world to him was full of isms, and if you didn't fit in one, you didn't fit anywhere.

The child stopped, taking a deep breath as he looked at the sun, it was hanging lower and lower. Soon it would be dusk, then it will fall tonight, it has been well over a few hours. He went to pull his scroll out of his pocket, only to find it wasn't there.

"No…" he reached into his other pocket, nothing, "no…no…no!"

He winces as he felt of his pants, he even looked in his shoes, no dice.

The blonde just looked at the sky, "why are so perfect, but today sucks so much?"

Slowly, he just looked at the street, he had ended up in the upper part of Mistral City. He saw the affluent houses, the families smiling, the world is perfect. But, he knew, he knew that below that the city was the exact opposite.

Night and day.

From highs scale on the literal level to the projects below.

He took a deep breath, unsure of where to go, he couldn't really remember his way back to Anko's safehouse.

"Hey!" Naruto snapped his head toward Ren, "I got your scroll."

Naruto walked toward Ren, the boy looked at him, "some number keeps calling it."

The blonde watches as the number calls it again, he swipes on it, "hello?"

 _"_ _Bout fucking time Fishcake, damn kid, where you at!"_ Anko yelled over the scroll as her face came on it.

"S-sorry Mistress," Naruto apologized as he rubbed the back of his head nervously, "I'm just looking around Mistral."

 _"_ _You lost the way back, didn't you?"_ She deadpanned, giving him a flat look.

"What…pfft, no…I…I…" Naruto looked down in defeat, "yes."

 _"_ _For fuck sakes, give me an hour, just stay put where you are at."_ Anko ordered him as she rubbed her head, _"I'm too hungover for shit…"_

Naruto watched as the screen became clear, meaning that Anko was on her way, he took a moment and sighed.

Ren looked at Naruto, speaking as he noted the tired look in his eyes, "are you okay…who was that…your mother?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, no that wasn't my mother…that was my Mistress." Naruto tells Ren as he took a deep breath, "and she's angry I didn't call her sooner."

"Mistress…are you a servant?" Ren inquires as he looked at Naruto.

"Not exactly, I'm her student, she's training me to become a Huntsman. Anyway, um, Ren…thanks." Naruto rubbed the back of his head as his tailed wagged.

"No worries, well I need to get going, Nora is going to be angry if I don't get back soon with her meds." Ren looked at Naruto and then noticed the sad look on his face, "Hey…what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" Naruto brushed him off as he continued to smile, "just thinking of what I want to eat tonight."

"Oh…okay, I'll see you around." Ren said as he waved Naruto goodbye, "take care."

Ren left Naruto as the blonde stood there, sighing, the child took a moment to look at his surroundings and then smiled.

He had made a friend!

Taking a deep breath, Naruto pocketed his scroll and then heard a child crying. The younger child was whining that her red balloon was flying away, and Naruto saw it slowly flow upward. Naruto took off running without as he looked at the balloon floating upward.

A man was about to move at the building, but Naruto's speed was a surprise as the blonde suddenly ran up the building and then grabbed the balloon just before it got out of reach. He was breathing hard, not because he was out of breath, but because at how fast he was going!

Naruto's training, though just a couple of weeks long, was already taking effect.

His body had a nasty habit of adapting to physical stress, the pain faded quickly with time, and it healed itself rapidly. Which meant that he was able to physically train his body faster any normal child, certainly any normal person.

Standing on one leg at the edge of the three-story building, keeping his balance thanks to his years of hunting and hiding in trees, Naruto then angled himself to where he could apply aura on the building and slide down.

Sliding down, landing with a heavy thump on the ground with his feet, Naruto hissed lightly at the "rug burn" he got on his arm.

The girl ran up to him, grabbing her balloon, "thank you thank you!"

She repeatedly yelled as her red and black hair bounced in joy, her silver eyes then turned toward a woman who was jogging over to her, "momma my balloon!"

"That's good Ruby, did you say thank you to the person who got it?" The woman asks as she looked around.

"Yeah, he's right here momma!" Naruto was pointed at by Ruby, whose mother looked at him.

"Wow, you must've been quick, she's been chasing that balloon for a good minute." The woman held out her hand, "my name's Summer young man."

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto greeted her all the same, "nice to meet you!"

"Well, nice to meet you, young man, here for your trouble." Summer reached into her purse and got a few liens out.

Naruto shook his head, "I didn't do it for the money mam, seriously!"

"Well aren't you just the little hero," Naruto's eyes widened as he turned to see Anko, "I thought I told you to stay put. If we go back out into the wilderness from here, then you better listen more than you do in the cities."

"So-sorry Mistress," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "this is Summer and Ruby by the way!"

"Yeah-yeah, I've been listening, hey toots and tootsie." Anko waved at them as she spoke, "how's Qrow?"

"Wh-what?!" Naruto screamed as he looked at the two, "you know each other!"

"Of course we know each other, Anko, been a while." Summer said as she looked at the older woman, "why do you want to get in contact with Qrow?"

"Bas-I mean idiot owes me a fight, a drink, and some money. Anyway, I hope my young student isn't being a nuisance, though I guess being a little hero for the day isn't a bad thing." Anko then glared at Naruto, "when he is not sneaking out…"

"Oh, well, that is bad…" Summer weakly added, nervous at even Anko's glare.

Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his head, faster than before mind you, "I'm in trouble, am I?"

"Yes." Anko merely answered.

"So long legs," Naruto whimpered as he looked at them, "you've given me a heck of a run."

Anko laughed a little bit, "maybe not intentional, but funny all the same. Anyway, what you are doing here Short Stack, aren't you married in Patch?"

"My family is on vacation in the upper area, Taiyang is with Yang, and so is your student also your secret son…or…" Summer then realized something, putting her hand over Ruby's ears, "you didn't kidnap him, did you?"

"What…pfft…no," Anko laughs as she got nervous, "it's not like Qrow incident I swear!"

"I can attest that Qrow still calls you names, because of five liens." Summer pointed out as she still held Ruby's ears.

"Bastard _stole_ five liens from me, my only regret is not hogtying him in front of your doorstep with a little bow on his ass. Oh, is here, by the way, ~" Anko deviously chuckled as she twiddled her fingers, "I've got a duel tomorrow."

"Anko didn't kidnap me," Naruto pointed out as he looked at Summer, "she's training me to become a Huntsman."

Summer blinked, removing Ruby's ears from her hands, "oh my God your training someone…"

"What, it's not that bad, I mean cmon. I'm Anko Mitarashi, what's the worse that's going to happen?" Anko questioned Summer, "seriously."

"He'll become a second you, only I don't know if a male version of you would be better or worse." Summer pointed out, "you are kind of creepy…"

Anko's face fell flat a little bit, deadpanning as she looked at Summer with her right eye twitching, "oh Summer…you should know."

A sudden fire lit in her eye, "there will only, always only, be one of me."

Summer sighed, "well we're heading out, Tai and Yang were wanting to explore Haven a little."

"Ooh, can I go, can I go!" Naruto suddenly yelled as he looked up at Anko, "please!"

"Sorry, you're grounded," Anko told him, much to his shock.

"W-what?" Naruto looked hurt slightly, "but I wasn't gone that long."

"Take this as a lesson in being punctual, now come on, we're gonna get something to eat and discuss this day a little bit." Anko grabbed Naruto's arm gently, "see you, Summer."

"See ya," she then smiled at Ruby, "c'mon my little petal."

* * *

Naruto was slurping down some rather cheap ramen back at the safehouse, taking a moment to look at Anko, "I made some friends…"

"Oh, really, orphans like you?" Anko inquired as she took a deep breath and took a drink of beer she had.

"I played soccer with a few, they didn't want to play with me when they found out that I wasn't a member of their school…but one did give me my scroll back when I dropped. Ren, and he said he a friend named Nora…I guess Ruby could be my friend as well…right?" Naruto inquired as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Probably not, just because you do something good for someone doesn't mean that they'll be your friend. Also, Fishcake, don't take this the wrong way…you smell pretty bad." Anko tells him as she wipes the air with her hand, "go take a shower."

Naruto nodded as he got up from the floor, taking his container with him and tossing it in the trash as he walked away.

Anko smiled at him as he turned his back to her, _"I have to be cruel to you because you'll learn to take punches and roll with them. Summer is a good person, but she's not going to be seeing much of you…"_

The blonde took a moment, stopping, "what's it like to have friends…I mean friends when you're also a kid…"

The question caught Anko off guard, she looked at him, "what?"

"I mean, besides Ayame and Teuichi, I never had any friends. You're my friend, I guess, but I don't know what it's like to have friends my age…" Naruto held his head down, "and I wanted to thank you…"

The young child smiled as he looked at her, the same dumb child's smile he gave her back in Busan. "You're the only other person to ever care for me!"

Anko watches as he walked into the bathroom after telling her that, she took a deep breath, smiling. _"You too Fishcake, you too…"_


	5. Chapter 5

( **So my friend , Rio Skyron, revently did a Reading of Silent Moon. If you haven't checked out Silent Moon or his story, you really should! A great writer, and a great friend, please support him in his writings!)**

* * *

Anko took a deep breath, yawning as she got up and scratched her behind which was just clad in white boxers. Her T-shirt was a beige with black stripes on the arm, a heavy metal band painted on the back, she used her feet to scratch the back of her legs.

She walked over to her hakama, grabbing it, and sliding it on with a purpose.

 _"_ _Fuck me, I got drunk last night."_ Anko pinched her nose and walked into the bathroom.

She stumbled about for a moment, but then lurched and vomited into the open toilet, gripping the edge of the sink in the process. Wheezing, coughing, bile worked its way out of her and it was all due to an alcohol-fueled night of T.V and regrets.

Many regrets.

Breathing hard, she wiped her lips with her forearm, "fucking hell…"

Walking toward the bathroom door she opened it, finding that as she walked into the living room the blonde charge she had taken was still asleep, his tail was wagging every so often, and even more often was a mumble.

"Mmm…Ayame…" Anko giggled, she walked over to him silently, "Oh…that is so good…"

 _"_ _I knew this fucker wasn't so innocent,"_ she hummed as her thoughts ran wild, _"then again a man loves a woman who can cook…fuck me…I can't cook."_

"More Miso…more…pork…with…extra…noodles…" Naruto then began to snore loudly.

Anko's right eye twitched, she looked at the blonde with annoyance, _"goddamnit…keynote…start corrupting when he is thirteen."_

Sighing, she took notice of something on the half-naked blonde, it was a seal array on his stomach, a special seal array.

Only someone of a level in Sealing Arts could've made, and that someone was probably the boy's father, she saw it glow for a moment. Taking note of a scar that was on the boy's chest as well, which was odd, she never really noticed it beforehand.

He was a heavy sleeper, so tentatively, she rolled him over and saw that another scar was on the exact opposite side of his body. This meant, rather disconcertingly, that Naruto had at point been impaled by something.

Normally this would render anyone, especially a child, with life-threatening injuries.

However, what was odd in Naruto's case? That he was just walking around, behaving and acting like a normal child, rightfully so, but it was disconcerting to her all the same.

No normal child just gets up from a critical wound, let alone in the chest, which would've made it a mortal wound.

Letting the blonde flop back down, she just looked at him, noting the whisker marks on his face. Placing her hand on him, she focused deep into his spirit, and mostly on his reserves of aura and life energy.

He was very well gifted in the in fact that his reservoirs were astonishing, it was like staring into an endless sea, an endless horizon at best. She saw that his aura color, ironically, was orange. However, deep inside of this aura sea was a black speck, which was odd.

Red, yellow, violet, orange, gray, white, gold, silver, and even blue aura was common

But, Black Aura, the black aura was an aura that she merely heard of.

And, the stories she heard of it, they weren't pretty.

Red symbolized passion.  
Yellow symbolized life.  
Violet was royalty.  
Orange signified a general warm heart.  
Gray was a balanced person.  
White in a sense was nobility and purity.  
Gold represented honorable and prideful individuals.  
Silver meant that someone was strong hearted and stalwart.  
Blue represented just someone with an average outlook.

But, Black, Black Aura represented darkness and rage.

Death.

Aura color had no basis on the power of someone, everyone still had to train it, but an aura color often signified a sort of affinity toward an element.

Gold and Orange signified an affinity toward Fire.  
White and Gray represented Wind.  
Blue and any similar color were Water.  
Yellow was the color of Lightning or Electricity.  
Silver and Red represented an affinity to Light.  
Black unsurprisingly represented Darkness.

Anko's teachers drilled this into her, but it didn't mean that a blue aura individual _had to have_ an affinity for Water, no less than a red aura individual wouldn't have an affinity to Wind. It was based on how physical energy in the form of aura and spiritual energy in the form of the life force mixed in the formation of chakra.

Magic for her was based in the old ways, thousands of years in heritage, when it was rumored the world was one giant continent instead of the smaller ones that they had today. Indeed, many things could change, but old archaic mudras of the past live on.

The Mudra, Hand Seals, were used to channel one's chakra into a usable force. They weren't always required, in fact, basic techniques really only required single seal just to focus it better, but more advanced ones required more seals to essentially mold it into what you needed.

Which is why Chakra Control was going to be hell for Naruto, he was disproportionally gifted in physical energy in his aura, and his spiritual energy reserves were larger than normal, but that was hardly a gift if you were to become a user of magic.

In fact, in many ways, it made the training to do the _basic_ things a little harder.

These were the things that Naruto would learn, once he proved himself worthy enough, then he would be privy to all of her knowledge and all of her skills.

From her combat style to the healing Jutsu she used on occasion, and then he would go about, learning and maybe even creating his own.

Looking at the blonde child, the child she had convinced to leave everything behind for a chance at life, her frown only grew.

She was never supposed to take a student Outcasts were not supposed to, in fact, Outcasts weren't really supposed to be using their magical techniques either.

So, there was a small chance that some of the more noble clans, namely her clan of The Silverbird, being irritated and irate at the idea she took a student.

But, as the blonde snorted, she couldn't help but wonder what he was dreaming of…

* * *

Naruto twirled a large, comically large mind you, ramen noodle like a lasso. He was riding on top of Maki and he used the lasso noodle to rope and then hogtie a Beowulf. He giggled, standing on Maki, posing as he assumed something akin to the Drunken Boxer's stance from a movie he saw.

The child landed on top of the Beowulf, kicking its head off as he threw his arms in up in the air!

"I'm the greatest, you're the lamest, this dope rap doesn't sound like crap, yeeaaah~" Naruto crossed his arms bouncing on his feet.

Mimicking his favorite rap artist that he heard on his dad's scroll.

Only for a sudden record scratch noise to be heard throughout the entire dreamscape, he frowned, "great…you again."

* * *

 ** _Shinobi of a new age!_**

 ** _Chapter five: Saving Ren! Nora's plea for help._**

* * *

"Run, Fishcake, run!" Anko screamed as she watched Naruto do laps around a park she was sitting in.

The blonde was sweating profusely, "I thought you said we were taking a break from training!"

Anko looked at him, chuckling, "never said I wasn't a liar!"

"Gah!" Naruto screamed as he started hopping on one leg, "but why make me hop on one leg?!"

The purple haired woman laughed, "because I love making you squirm Fishcake, now move it!"

The woman watched as he started to slow down a little, she rolled her eyes, getting a shuriken from her pouch attached to a string she then smirked. Naruto was busy hopping on his legs interchangeably that he barely dodged the first throw and return by Anko.

Who had been aiming at his tail, "what the hell!"

"Run, bitch, run!" Anko yelled as she got up, chasing after Naruto.

Naruto's eyes went wide and white as he started to take off away from Anko, hopping over a few benches and rocks as he sprinted as fast his legs could take him.

This woman, his mistress, was insane!

The violetnette laughed menacingly as she aimed for his tail, the blonde's tail moved instinctually away from each attempt, but she knew she'd get him eventually. That, or she'd have to buy him dinner because that boy was running!

* * *

A few hours passed, and Naruto collapsed on the ground in front of a fountain, he breathed hard as he managed to lose Anko somehow.

"Jeez, she's crazy, but it was fun…minus the whole shuriken thing," Naruto mumbled aloud as he brushed himself off.

"Ren!" a girl called out, "Ren, where are you?!"

The girl was a little taller than Naruto, she looked about the area, "Ren!"

The girl looked about frantically, shouting, "Renny!"

Naruto jogged over to her, hopping once he started to get a cramp in his leg. He stopped right in front of the girl, she took notice of him, she seemed awfully pale and looked sickly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Naruto questioned.

"Have you seen my friend, he's a little taller than me, he's got a single strand of pink hair! His name is Lie Ren, and he's not been at the school dorms since this morning!" The girl, struggling and failing to hold herself together, explained to Naruto.

"Wait…Ren?! You know Ren, hey…wait a minute…you're Nora!" Naruto pointed at her, "Ren told me he was getting your medicine yesterday!"

"Yeah, that's the whole thing I'm worried about. We're too poor to get into the pharmacy so Ren goes out into the woods!" Nora nearly screamed, fear gripping her, "what if…oh no…what if a Grimm got him!"

"Calm down, hey, Nora just calm down. I'll go into the woods…err…what part of the woods?" Naruto inquired, trying to get a general location.

"It's somewhere in the east, can you please help me, please-please-please!" She begged over and over until she started going into a coughing fit.

Naruto grabbed her before she fell over, then he noticed a small patch of blood on his clothing from where she had coughed up, he froze in a realization of what she had.

It was Flu, more specifically Pneumonic Flu, and the blood on his clothing just maybe got him sick. Griping slightly as he picked her up, he looked at her.

"Hey, I need to get to my place really quick, I need to get a couple of things." She nodded, allowing herself to be carried away by someone her age, but a complete stranger.

* * *

Naruto got to the safehouse, sighing as he opened the door, he noticed that Anko wasn't inside. Cursing under his breath, the eleven-year-old put the girl on the couch as he went and got his bow. He took a deep breath, watching as she coughed up.

"Hey…what's your name?" he stopped walking toward the door, "please tell…me…just in case…"

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki, and don't worry I'll bring your friend back." He put his thumb up, "just count on me, Dattebayo!"

* * *

As he left into the hallway he began to text Anko.

Anko stretched out as she looked at the grounds, she looked at Lionheart, "sup kitty."

"You're late, nearly a month and a half late." Lionheart growled, "it was hard enough holding Kuro here for the duel."

"Pfft," Anko blows raspberries as she looked past Lionheart's shoulder, "he's not bad looking."

Kuro was a tall man, walking with a bit of swagger, he had a long needle-like sword on his back hip. He had dark hair tied into a ponytail and jet-black eyes. He wore black leather armor over his entire body, minus his hands and forelegs.

He looked at Anko, "I have to admit, I expected someone a little bit more…weathered."

She giggled, "down boy, if you win maybe."

Kuro chuckled as he gripped the hilt of his blade, looking right at Anko, "I heard you fought better drunk?"

"That is a true statement, but its also when I have a slippery hand, meaning I may accidentally cut that _tool_ off." She says with a devilish sneer as she licked her lips, placing her hand on the hilt of her blade.

Several dozen students were watching from open windows from dorms and had stayed on the edges of the courtyard, they had been promised a spectacle by their Headmaster, Lionheart. Anko yawned as she slipped her sword out of its scabbard, lightly stepping forward as if dancing until she readied herself.

Kusanagi began to glow a bright white, shining and radiating a lovely hum as Anko held it in front of her with one hand.

Kuro rolled his eyes, untying his sword's sheath and kicking it into the air before grabbing the blade out of it. He twirled his blade about, revealing it had no cutting edges on Anko's brief once-over. He took a deep breath, strangely, the man took a deep breath and smiled.

Without much notice both Anko and Kuro charged at one another, their swords clashed against each other, sparks flew from the blades as they began to clash rapidly. Lionheart yelping as a clash nearly took his head off, giving very little regard to his safety as the duo "danced" in the middle of the courtyard.

Anko thrusts Kusanagi, only for Kura's eyes to briefly turn red as he deflected the blow, she took notice of this and then leaned back when he thrust his weapon at her.

She hopped up and gave it a good kick, but much to her surprise it was like he was seeing future since he spins with the counter and counterattacks. Anko barely dodged the stab, deflecting several more blows meant to bash her aura down.

Taking a deep breath, she then hops back, switching stances to where she gripped her sword above her head, slowly bringing it down to her left hip. Kuro smiles, switching his stance as well, but added a spin for effect.

He held his blade in reverse, oddly, he had it held up in reverse to where it touched his forearm.

 _"_ _That stance, it looks familiar…"_ Anko examined as she stood her ground.

Kuro charged and jumped up, spinning in the air on his side, that's when he righted his grip on his blade and attempted to spear Anko. However, she managed to block the strike and countered, but Kuro in turn just smirked and hopped off the ground no sooner than he landed on it.

She growled when she felt something stingy, finding that he managed to nick her back with the very tip of his blade.

"Should've fought drunk," Kuro states as he hopped up and stood up the top of his sword and smiled, "but looks like the stories were a little bit of a stretch."

"Motherfucker…" Anko hissed as she reached behind her and pulled out a flask, "want me drunk?"

"By all means," Kuro motioned her, "show me what the legendary Anko Mitarashi has to offer!"

 _"_ _And there goes my temper and my very expensive two hundred and twenty proof Vacuoian Whiskey."_ Anko swallowed the entire contents of the flask, hiccupping afterward but fire blew from her mouth after the hiccup.

She stumbled about before smirking as she pointed her sword at him, "hey kiddies, cover your ears…and it's about get motherfucking filthy up in this bitch!"

Kuro eyed her, smirking as she watched him have green aura flow around him, he had a shadow around him as it malformed and began to form tendrils around him. His semblance represented his name, Black, Dark, thusly Shadow.

Anko rolled her eyes, "so what you can bend shadow, bitch I can bend everything else and then some, limp dick motherfucker~"

She stumbled about, nearly falling on her own sword, Kuro's eyes narrowed at her.

She was totally unpredictable in this state.

"Behold," Anko struck a pose with her sword pointed up while bouncing on one foot, "The Drunken Mistress of disaster…the luscious wielder of Kusanagi!"

She charged, a whistle of air followed her movement as she charged right at him, Kuro's eyes widened as she suddenly stopped in front of him and slung her sword upward. He barely blocked as she twisted her body to lean back while swinging the sword up.

They clashed several times as she walked backward, and when he launched a shadow tendril at her, she simply disappeared in a blinding display of speed. He looked around, stunned silent as he felt her presence behind him, he made his shadows form a shield around him only for her sword to pierce through it.

He barely dodged from being impaled, _"shit…"_

He turned around and blocked her sword thrust as she tried again, but when she fell forward he didn't expect her to suddenly throw a kick at him. It caught him by surprise, smashing him right in the face, he was knocked back as she rolled forward and stood up on one foot.

Belching loudly, eliciting a few laughs from the students, she blew a small flicker of flame from her mouth.

Kuro shook his head, his nose was bleeding as he looked at her, _"Drunk Sword Technique…not a stable of The Silver Bird or Snake Clan…"_

 _"_ _Dragon Clan?!"_ His eyes widened as he looked at her, he readied his semblance and gathered it around his sword.

"Oi-oi-oi-oi, getting serious eh-eh-eh?!" Anko drunkenly screamed as she mimicked his movement, her sword glowing brightly, "I will smite you motherfu-a…a..ack!"

She held up one finger, "one minute….one minute…"

Kuro rolled his eyes, "really…"

Anko smirked as she suddenly appeared in front of him, "psych~"

He barely brought his sword up in time to block the slash she attempted, only for her to suddenly lash out and kick him across the head and knocking him to the ground. She placed her foot on his back, reaching toward her belt, pulling out a flask of water.

She chugged it down, hiccupping all the way as she ground her foot into his back, her sword pointing down at him.

Finishing the flask off she then tosses it in the air, "I win~"

Lionheart just smacked his face, leave it to Anko to turn a serious duel into a charade.

To be fair, Kuro let his guard down way too much.

* * *

Naruto was in The Eastern Forest Region of Sai. Tall oak and maple trees littered the ground around him, he wondered what kind of herbs Ren would have to get to treat Nora's affliction, and he had been trying to reach Anko now for a few hours!

Things were going to crap, he was sure he was going to get scolded when he got back, but Ren was his friend!

At least he thought he was, so Naruto couldn't just stay behind and do absolutely nothing, he had to try. So, now, walking in the woods of an unknown land alone and wielding just his bow and a few arrows he put all the years of hunting to work.

He found a trail, humanoid footprints, small and about his size. Ren was just a year younger than him, so it would be easy to guess that he, in essence, would have the same size of the foot or a little smaller. Tracking the trail, the blonde found that the footprints became further apart.

Meaning if it was Ren, Ren had run away from something, high tailing it by the looks of it.

The blonde sniffed the air, taking time to slow down, listening to the forest around him. He noted the distinct absence of bird calls, meaning there was a predator in the area. He took a moment, taking a deep breath as he paused in his step.

He heard footsteps!

Naruto turned around and readied an arrow, he pointed it right at…Ren.

Ren's eyes wide, filled with fear, the magenta of nearly gone from how dilated his pupils were.

"Ren are you okay?!" Naruto ran over to the younger boy, "jeez you look pretty beat up."

"He came…" Ren mumbled, "the guy that's been killing people Mistral…he…he…tried…"

The boy shook, "he tried to eat me…"

Naruto's eyes widened, a murderer and cannibal, and with the smell of death now feeling his nose the blonde grimaced as he heard a branch snap. He put his bow around him, grabbing Ren as he quickly ran for a tree.

A shot rang out from the bushes near him, a high-powered rifle!

He ran up the tree, barely dodging the bullet, he got into the canopy and jumped between the trees as he held Ren. He was breathing hard, if the man was a normal man he'd be safe, but he wasn't going to take the chance!

Naruto breathed hard as he noted that Ren had a wound on his arm, a bullet had grazed him at some point.

The man was hunting Ren if Naruto hadn't shown up in time the cannibal was going to score his latest victims.

Tripping over a branch, Naruto held Ren tight as he tucked and rolled on the ground. He was breathing hard as Ren activated his semblance, decoloring them.

"Grimm," Ren said as he pointed toward some Beowulfs, "my semblance can hide us."

"Whoa, close call…" Naruto murmured as he hid behind a tree, hiding Ren behind him.

"How did you know I was out here?" Ren inquired as he looked at the Beowulfs, oddly enough, their only line of defense if the guy was coming.

No way someone like that didn't exude an enormous amount of negative energy.

Suddenly The Beowulfs were alerted and ran at something, several rifle shots could be heard as Naruto and Ren looked around. The blonde quickly began to dig, with Ren joining him, and discovered that there was a tree well under the tree.

Naruto shoved Ren in first, while he went in, covering the hole up save for a small little hole.

A man wearing a black mask and cloak, and holding a hunting knife in his hands, along with a rifle draped around his shoulder came out of the bushes. Indicating that the man was capable of killing Grimm, which furthered alerted Naruto.

The man had a tape recorder at his side, he looked around, and then click the button.

 _"_ _And, they called it puppy love…oh I guess they'll never know…"_ The tape recorder played as Naruto winced.

This person was certified insane!

He huddled Ren deeper into the tree well, looking at the person as the tape kept playing. He kept shaking, looking at Ren, who was breathing hard. Naruto slammed his hand on Ren's mouth, biting his own lip, trying to make as little as noise as possible.

"Little kids, little kids, come out and play…" the person spoke, revealing a man's voice. "Come on now, I only want a small nibble pink eye."

"I know who you are, I know where you sleep, I'll get you eventually…come to now…I'll get you…" the man walked around the area, scraping the knife on his mask.

He chuckled and looked at the bush in front of him, "I'll eat you fast, that way you don't feel nothing…I love the meat of little boys…so tender…"

Naruto shook more, watching the man walk about, "there you are!"

His eyes widened as the man took his rifle and aimed toward the hole, only to fire and hit a fox that scurried just in front of the tree. The man growled, throwing his rifle down, and just walked over to the fox before gutting it a mere few feet away from Naruto.

"Fucking little bastards…got away…kill them next time I will…" the man repeated as he gutted the fox, while it was alive.

Ren looked up Naruto, shaking heavily as they huddled in the tree well.

The ground was muddy, damp, and smelled now due to the man being nearby and the dead fox.

As the man finished he took the gutted fox, hanging it up on a tree and stabbing his knife into it, holding it there.

"I'll find you, and I will kill you, you blonde Faunus bastard! How dare you interrupt my hunt!" The man screamed out, walking away.


	6. Chapter 6

**(This chapter does not pull punches on the ideas of a serial killer, you've been warned, just saying. In fact, if you've seen Fate/Zero then this serial killer is based off Caster from that series, or you know...Gilles de Rais/Blue Beard. You've been warned, this disclaimer is up here for the fact that he was created to be disturbing nightmare fuel...sorry Rio Skyron...)**

* * *

Nightfall, Naruto was using his scroll, powering it with his aura. Ren was close to him, hiding them both with his semblance, they both looked in the darkness and used the moon to guide them back. Nightly birds chirping, and crickets signaling indicated no predators or Grimm in the immediate area.

Naruto had an arrow readied, having bowstring pulled slightly back just in case, he looked at Ren and whispered. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Ren whispered in reply and then looked at Naruto, "why did you come to save me?"

Naruto smiled, despite his fear, "you're my friend…'

Ren chuckled, somehow, he felt at ease around Naruto, like the blonde Faunus just gave off that aura of warmth around them. It was cold this night, but Ren felt warm, he looked toward Naruto and noticed the boy's orange aura glowing around him.

"Where're your parents at?" Ren inquired as he watched older blonde suddenly, he grew nervous, "hear something?"

"No," Naruto took a moment and then everything stopped, "its what I'm not hearing…"

The birds and crickets from earlier stopped, Naruto took a moment, taking a deep breath. He looked at the tree canopy, seeing a glimmer in it. He suddenly grabbed and tossed Ren away as he jumped away just as a shot rang out.

"Run!" Naruto screamed, "follow the moon!"

He turned around and fired his bow at the killer who was in the trees, only for his eyes to widen as the killer caught the arrow in midair. Smiling with unusually sharp teeth under his mask, licked the arrow with his tongue before chambering another round into his rifle.

"Run," the killer aimed the gun at Naruto, "make this hunt fun."

Naruto put his bow around him and began to with Ren.

Ren ran as fast he could, while Naruto didn't move too far behind, he looked at his scroll. _"Why aren't you picking up Anko, please!"_

* * *

Anko was laying in a bed, clothing was strung about as she raised up, holding her head. "Motherfucker, what happened?"

The man lying by her, Kuro, raised up as well. "Ahh, fuck…you can hold some liquor woman…shit."

"What did we just do," Anko mumbled, holding her head, "why are my wrists hurting so much?"

"We got kinky, you wanted to do it from behind while your arms were tied," Kuro admitted as he rubbed the back of his head, "all in all…pretty fucking wild."

"Yeah, I've been buzzing ever since I got to your place from Haven…wait…I hear buzzing." Anko looked over at her clothing, "fucking shit…my scroll…can you get it for me, kind sir?"

Kuro laughed, getting up, stark naked and getting the scroll. "Hmm, some picture of a man on here, got another side piece of ass?"

"Heh," Anko held her hand out, "you were good, but I am not looking for a relationship."

Kuro chuckled, "then I guess you already know who I am?"

"Course," Anko as she looked at him, "haven't seen you since we were kids…now hand me my scroll please."

She clicked her tongue, Kuro rolled his eyes, tossing her the scroll. She caught, getting up from the bed, stark naked as well. She looked at the caller ID, humming slightly.

"Oh, it's Fishcake. Hang on, got to take this Itachi," Anko swiped to vocally answer the phone.

No way in hell was an eleven-year-old getting the view of a lifetime anytime soon. "Hello, Fishcake~"

 _"_ _Oh, thank God, Anko, Help! Please, there's a crazy serial killer after us!"_ Naruto screamed on the line, the sudden sound of a gunshot ringing made Anko's hairs stand on edge.

She got her clothing, rushing to put them on, "where are you?!"

 _"_ _I don't know, somewhere out in the eastern part in the forest, we're following the moon!"_ Naruto told her as another shot rang out, _"Ren!"_

 _"_ _Ren…"_ She felt her blood run cold, "just keep going, I swear I will get there!"

 _"_ _He got Ren, Ren got shot, he's got a bullet in his leg!"_ Naruto sounded like he was struggling, probably somehow carrying Ren.

Anko looked toward Itachi, the man who identified himself as Kuro, "we need to move, now!"

He nodded, already having gotten most of his clothes on.

* * *

Naruto dropped his father's scroll, he had Ren in his arms as he ran, "fuck!"

"Little kids shouldn't curse, hehehe," the killer said from above them.

Naruto's world seemed to slow down as he heard the man chamber another round, he looked down at Ren, who was scared. He could see a laser dot on the boy's forehead. He growled as suddenly he had a burst of speed, with a thunderous boom of wind blasting from his feet.

The shot that rang out afterward was nowhere near Naruto, the killer paused for a second, _"wind? Semblance!"_

Naruto skidded to a stop on the ground, sliding and leaving a trail of picked up dirt on his hiking shoes. He was breathing hard as he turned toward the killer, backing up as the killer dropped to the ground. He laughed at the blonde-haired Faunus in front of him.

Suddenly Naruto saw something shimmer on the killer's side, it was a necklace of sorts, with teeth on them…canine teeth.

Naruto went back up, but when he felt nothing but hair, he stopped and shook. Looking behind him, there was nothing but a deep gorge, the blonde bit his lip till it drew blood. Shaking profusely while holding Ren, the killer licked his knife as he approached.

"Rape…Murder…it's just a shot away, just a shot away~" The killer licked the blood to its tip, slightly cutting his tongue.

Naruto took notice of the sharp teeth, unnaturally jagged, he looked right at the blonde. "Leave us alone…go away…"

The killer laughs manically, looking at the blonde with drool coming from his mouth.

"That's not how it works boy, you see I hunt you. I hunt you, I cut you open, and eat that sweet little baby fat in your stomachs." The killer laughed as he approached, "and I do so with a gleeful smile as I pluck a canine tooth from you."

"You don't have to do this," Naruto begged as he got on his tiptoes, afraid to jump, but also afraid to move anywhere else.

"I love little children, you're a little old, but that boy you hold in your arms is just _ripe_ for the pickings." The killer pointed his knife at Naruto, "make you a deal."

Naruto shook, "w-w-what?"

"You give me that boy, I will let you get a ten-minute head start. No strings attached, well, save the meat hooks the boy will in." The killer reaches behind him and holds out a large chain with a hook on it while moving his rifle's shoulder strap to where it was behind him.

"Do-don't, please, Naruto…" Ren begged, "don't…"

Naruto scrunched his eyes up, "I won't…"

The killer laughed as he approached. "Oh, adorable, I guess I'll have foxtail soup…a la carte meat pie."

He then laughed as he looked right at Naruto, "but I'll think I'll baste you first…"

The killer bent down, laughing as scraped his knife on the ground. "One-two I'm going to get you, three-four your arms fall to the floor, five-six better put the eyeballs on the sticks, seven-eight you will be raped, nine-ten…The Wendigo comes again~"

"Ren," Naruto looked at him, "you trust me, right?"

"Yeah…" Ren looked up at Naruto, "why?"

Naruto took a deep breath, clutching his friend close to him as he looked right at the killer. "Game over…"

The Killer shrieked in anger as Naruto jumped backward, he ran and tried to reach the blonde, who jumped to far away. The blonde dropped down the gorge, clutching Ren closely, the killer all the while screamed in frustration as he looked dead at the boy.

"You little bastard!" The killer screamed.

Suddenly the Wendigo snapped around and saw a woman standing there, her eyes wide in horror. "You…bastard…"

She got her sword out, "you killed my student!"

The killer managed to block Anko's sword strike as she charged at him, he pushed her back as he dodged her several fury laced slashes, getting his gun out and pointing it at her with one hand. However, the man then saw the barrel get cut as Itachi landed next to Anko.

"Where're the kids!" Itachi demanded as he pointed his blade at the killer.

"Fucking blonde made them jump off, but not to worry I'll eat their corpses." He then dropped his knife, "you two, on the other hand, will die here…heheh-HAHAHA!"

A dark red sigil appeared on the man's hand as he started to form Mudra hand seals, surprising both Anko and Itachi, was this insane bastard a part of clan?!

Itachi stepped up, forming shadows around them as he launched a ball of fire from his mouth, the flames were dark red color as it dispersed the shadows away. Itachi's eyes widened, the man still was forming Mudra symbols.

 _"_ _That wasn't his spell, what the hell, that's Dark Arts!"_ Itachi moved for his sword.

Anko then felt aura from the gorge, her eyes caught the glimpse of blonde hair as Naruto used his survival knife to hang on the edge of the wall, with Ren holding on for dear life by wrapping his arms over the blonde's neck.

"Itachi, get the kids!" Anko ordered him as she formed hand seals of her own.

Both ended on Snake!

"Dark Art: Blood Seek!"  
"Earth Style: Earth Spike!"

Spikes of earth nearly impale the killer as he jumped up, until he lurched back and spat blood out of his mouth. The blood then formed sharp tendrils that stabbed into the ground where Anko had dodged at the last minute.

Anko's sword glows brightly as The Wendigo formed a spear of bone from his hands, "looks like a feast is in order, hahaha!"

They both danced around one another they Anko blocked several of his strikes, backing away as she was being pushed back. Anko managed to lean back and then slice one of the spears in half, only for the other to nearly impaling her as he formed another out of the broken one.

Itachi ran and jumped over the gorge, getting to the other side as he used his semblance to manipulate the shadows in the gorge to form a platform, "hey, Fishcake…drop down!"

Naruto looked down, clenching his eyes as he dropped off his knife and landed on the platform. He was breathing hard, looking up at the man as he began to raise the platform. However, as he did the killer took notice and threw one of the spears.

Itachi was forced to dodge, breaking his concentration, Naruto and Ren scream as the fixture broke apart. The blonde's eyes shined with power as he suddenly narrowed them and concentrated. A loud boom emanated from behind him as they suddenly blast upward from a strong wind gust.

Ren hollers as he is thrown by Naruto and toward Itachi, but before Naruto could fall back into the gorge Itachi managed to grab him with a shadow tendril, "you alright, kid?"

"Ren's hurt, I need to…I…" Naruto hesitated as he saw Anko struggle and he was in fear of the man as he looked at his mistress getting pushed back.

Anko was struggling, apart from her duel and later triage with Itachi, she was exhausted simply from running across the forest in an attempt to find her foolish student. She was caught off guard when the man allowed himself to be stabbed and nearly caught right in the face with a spear.

She received a cut down her cheek from the bony spear, she kicked him off her blade, only for him to suddenly lurch back and spit blood toward her which formed sharp tendrils.

 _"_ _Now I know why he's kidnapping children, he's not eating them for just food, he's eating to absorb their souls and amplify his powers in the darker arts…Wendigo is a fitting name…stubborn bastard."_ Anko struggled as she deflected each tendril of blood that flew out of his mouth.

She then sliced the air in front of her, he dodged, his wound from earlier fully healed as he charged at her again. Anko and Wendigo glared at each other as the man licked his lips, he and she clashed again.

Ren looked up at Itachi, "wh-what are they using?"

Itachi took a look at Ren, then tapping his head while looking at his eyes, _"Tsukuyomi…erase."_

Ren's eyes dulled as he closed them, Naruto, the blonde seemed to grit his teeth as he felt his blood boil. He felt so weak and useless, Itachi was forced to stand behind and watch as Anko struggled. He had no real long-range attacks, he didn't know if his illusions would even work on a mind like Wendigo.

 _"_ _He's powerful but insane, Tsukuyomi only works effectively with people who are level-headed and grounded in reality. She's also too close, I can't use Amaterasu without risk of hitting her, foolish woman…still the same…even from when we were kids."_ Itachi gripped his fists, "c'mon Anko…"

Anko barely dodged the double spear thrust by Wendigo, who dodged her in time to start a counterattack. The woman took a deep breath as she dodged the alternative spear thrusts by Wendigo, only to feel him then firmly plant his boot into her abdomen.

She coughed up a wad of blood as she was knocked back into a tree.

Naruto's eyes snapped open, getting his bow, he took an arrow out and aimed it. "Get away from my Mistress!"

Wendigo turned around, the man smirked under his mask as he once again plucked the arrow out of the air. However, Itachi's left eye bled as the arrow suddenly bursts into black flames. Wendigo yelped, dropping the arrow before it got to him.

"Clever bastards, the lot of you," Wendigo growled before blocking Anko's sword once again.

He looked right at her, "looks like you'll be the first to go."

Naruto stood there, dropping his bow, "it's useless…I can't…"

 _"_ _I have to do something, what did I do earlier?! Twice, what did I do earlier!"_ Naruto's aura flared around him as he watched him walk toward his mistress, "I…need to…"

The blonde took a deep breath as he concentrated, suddenly he heard Anko yelp and saw her get pushed back against the tree and about to get stabbed. He didn't think as he cocked his fist back, throwing it forward, Itachi's eyes widened as Naruto blasted backward from the force of the gust he sent forward.

"Go!" Naruto screamed as the wind left him and blasted forward.

The Wendigo's eyes widened as he turned around only to get blasted by the gusting winds and sent into a tree. He looked at Naruto, anger boiling up inside of him, he clapped his hands as he began to form Mudra seals.

"Dark Art: Blood Seek!" The killer blasted blood from his mouth that headed right for Naruto.

Itachi jumped right in front of him, using his shadow tendrils as his eyes turned red. The tendrils raised up, swatting away the tendrils of sharpen blood from the man's mouth. The Wendigo hollered in rage as he hit the ground with his fist.

Getting another spear of bone to form, blocking Anko while not looking, he glared right at them all. "I'll see you…next time…boy…"

Anko's sword began to break through the bone, only for The Wendigo to suddenly warp away in a dark red flash of light. She stumbled forward, looking around the area, she then looked at the others and saw Itachi shake his head.

"God fucking damn it!" Anko roared as she jumped over the gorge and landed in front of Itachi.

"He got away, but we at least we got the children." Itachi said as he looked at Ren, "but we need to get him to a hospital."

"Where's Naruto?" Anko sternly questioned as she looked at the man.

"Over here…ow…" Anko looked at Naruto as he got up from the ground, his arm was obviously injured as it hanged limply by his side.

He breathed hard, looking up at her with a fear-filled look. "I-I'm sorry, but Ren is my friend…I…couldn't…"

She surprised him by placing her hand in his hair and ruffling, "we'll talk later…we need to get your friend here to a hospital…hop on my back."

* * *

Ren was in a hospital room, he was watched by his sick friend, Nora. She looked at Naruto, the blonde had his arm in a cast from where he tore a ligament in it. She looked at him, tearing up slightly as she looked at Ren before smiling slightly.

"Thank you…" she murmured, looking at the blonde with the small smile.

The blonde, for his part, rubbed the back of his head. "Don't mention it, friend?"

"Friend." Nora stated resolutely, "best friends!"

Naruto couldn't help but give her a childish chuckle, smiling all the same as Anko watched him from the other side of the room. Itachi had already left to make the police report, omitting the use of magic, as per their codes.

He had explained to Anko that he used his family's secret bloodline to erase Ren's memory up to the point of them falling into the gorge, which would make it easier for everyone to write off at the end. Naruto got up from his seat, looking at his arm, sighing.

"Why the long look, Fishcake?" Anko inquired as she noticed the sad sigh.

"I lost my father's scroll," Naruto held his head low, "and all the pictures on it."

Anko just snorted, "and? It's a piece of machinery kid, and photos aren't important."

He looked at her, stunned, "but…all of the photos of me and him…"

"Are still locked in your heart, Fishcake, you don't carry memories in a machine…you carry them and cherish them in your heart." Anko held her hand out to beckon him, "come here."

When he got close enough she then flicked him on the head, "and that was your punishment for disobeying me. But, you did it for the right reasons, don't ever hesitate to defend your friends."

Naruto nodded, understanding what she said, "and never put yourself down because you aren't strong enough to fight."

His eyes widened, he looked up at her as she spoke. "You are owed one by me, heh, imagine that. I now owe an eleven-year-old brat a favor…shit…"

"Can you just keep me as your student then, even though I disobeyed you?" Naruto inquired, scared still she'd cut him loose.

"What, hell yeah I will, you got brass balls kid." She pats his head, "you were willing to throw your life away in exchange of saving your friend. That's a gusty play there, no, ballsy."

Naruto was elated as Anko praised him, she tugged at his ear suddenly, "but if you ever go back into something like this without back up, I will shove my foot so far up your ass the sweat from my leg will quench your thirst!"

He paled, along with Nora in the room, the blonde bowed his head after she let go of his ear. "Yes, mam."

He then looked back up at her, looking away, "so what happens now?"

"Now, well I and my friend from earlier hunt this bastard down and bring him to justice you idiot. Duh, you think we're just leaving this behind, oh no. You see, I have a rule, you touch my friends…you pay." Anko then lowered herself to level with Naruto, "and you better pick up on this."

"Yes." Naruto nodded, understanding it, "so revenge is good?"

"No, but it feels good. You just don't take petty revenge; this type of revenge isn't petty. Its avenging others that have been killed. Someone like this killer needs to be brought down, it is our sworn unspoken duty to do so. You want to be a Huntsman one day, right?" She looked at him and watched him nod, "this is the reality of it."

Naruto looked toward Ren, feeling his blood boil, if only he had been stronger…

"You will see people you care about get hurt, probably even killed, but you must always face the sun and moon. You either sit down, shut up and quit, or get the hell up on that damn horse." Anko states with pride, "are you still willing to follow this path, Fishcake?"

"Yes!"  
"You willing to train like hell?!"  
"Hell yes!"

She nodded, "good, now come and let's get some rest back at the safehouse. You got a long day ahead of you tomorrow, Naru-err…Fishcake."


	7. Chapter 7

"So, what Itachi, that guy you were with did to Ren was to hide your magical abilities?" Naruto blinked in surprise upon hearing Anko's explanation as to why Ren's memory had to be erased to a certain point.

Anko nodded, "its because while there are many forms of magic, many people cannot understand or use it. Our type of magic, Itachi, me, and even that Wendigo person were elemental manipulation. Ninjutsu, the art of shinobi."

'So, wait, what are the other types then?" Naruto sat in a lotus, upon Anko's instruction, on the ground while inquiring on the subject matter.

"Glad you asked that you see, besides elemental and sealing styles. There are other arts, like Miracles. Miracle Styles are a direct projection of one's life force, they're difficult to pull off, requiring intense concentration and they aren't really made for combat." Anko sat down in a lotus in front of her student, "they're mostly used to heal critical wounds and diseases."

"Um, okay, why do we have to hide from the world then? I mean, if we can do all of that, why hide it away?" Naruto questioned, scratching his chin, "if we had an army of people like you the Grimm threat would've probably been gone…right?"

"You see, that is sound logic Fishcake, but you missed the problem with that. You see, after the Grimm, what happens then? People with our powers either fall into darkness and seek to rule others or, they tend to live in isolation out of fear of harming others." She then pointed at herself, "hence why I mostly remain a hermit and travel."

"Oh, okay, I guess…" Naruto mumbled as he looked at the ground.

"You should be proud at what you did last night, you've also managed to awaken your semblance. I mean, it saved my ass after all, and I owe that one favor." Anko hinted at as she looked at Naruto with a warm smile, "name it and it is yours."

Naruto rubbed his chin, then he thought back to Ren and last night, he then looked Anko right in the eyes. "I want to learn what you did last night, those weird hand seals and things you did. That elemental type stuff, I want to learn so I can protect my friends."

Anko hummed, then laughed a little bit, "very good use of that Fishcake. Very well, I believe I can teach you the Mudra Seals, and maybe one technique."

"O-one?!" Naruto exclaimed, "I thought the favor was anything I wanted!"

She laughed at her student, looking at him warmly, "it will be fulfilled eventually. Baby steps Fishcake because performing them the wrong way could kill you."

It wasn't exactly an outright lie, but Anko was stretching the truth just a little bit. "Wouldn't want your head to explode, right?"

He paled slightly, pressing his fingers together, "s-sorry…"

Naruto lowered his head, then he looked at his arm that she had healed. Taking time to stretch it, it felt extremely better than what it was, but he still had some discomfort in it. She looked at him, holding her hand out.

"Want to know a secret, Fishcake?" She inquired while he took her hand.

He nodded, "sure."

She suddenly manipulated his hand, making him match her hand seals, "you can't use my techniques without chakra."

"Ah!" Naruto's eyes widened as he suddenly felt something awaken inside of him, "wh-what is this…feeling?"

"Chakra, I merely helped your body generate a small portion. You see, what you really should've asked from the favor was how to create chakra, well usable chakra, your body naturally produces small amounts. So, care to take a guess on how you do it, Fishcake?" Anko questioned him, while slightly teasing.

"Lot of physical exercises!" Naruto shot as he had a dumb smile on his face.

"Eh," Anko yelled out and stood up, "wrong!"

Anko took a deep breath, clapping her hands together, forming hand seals. However, she wasn't unleashing a technique, rather she was just forming them in front of him. He looked confused until he watched her sit back down and take a deep breath.

She was meditating!

"You create chakra by mixing your physical energy and spiritual energy. Physical energy is the power of your life force, and spiritual energy is the power of your soul. Now, physical exercises and stuff will tremendously increase physical energy, but spiritual energy requires mental focus and yes…meditation." She then smiled as he took notice of the Mudra hand seals she was making.

She stopped on one, in particular, Tiger, and looked at Naruto. "I want you to form this hand seal, focus on it, and meditate until I return."

Naruto formed the hand seal, looking at her, "what's this called?"

"That is called Tiger, a hand seal primarily used in Fire Style techniques. However, it is the basic seal of mediation, the starter of sorts before going into other seals. Many techniques require the Tiger Hand Seal at the start simply to get chakra flowing." She points out, "and Fishcake, you'll find that it is not the amount of chakra you have that makes a difference…but rather your control."

"O-oh, okay, so what should I do?" Naruto inquired as he watches her get up, "I mean, shouldn't I also be practicing my semblance!"

She chuckled, "in due time Fishcake, in due time."

* * *

Anko was sitting a small eatery with Itachi, he looked at her while sipping his green tea, "so…'

"So…?" Anko motioned for him to continue.

He sighed, "last night, besides what happened with the serial killer…you didn't seem to happy…about…"

"I am happy," Anko chuckled while blushing slightly, "even if I didn't look it."

"I mean, well, we had sex so…it was just sex, right?" Itachi wanted to confirm, looking at Anko.

"Nothing at all inside of it, I knew you since we were kids, despite how long time has kept us apart. I was glad to see you still alive and kicking, but you really suck at swordplay." Anko joked at his expense, "you should stick to hand to hand."

"Heh," Itachi sipped his tea, "among other things…"

She growled a little bit, not angry growl, but a playful one. "Not going to deny that. However, last night was merely me blowing off steam."

"So, it was just sex…that is fine," Itachi finished his tea, "I'm not angry about that."

"Oh? You're angry, that's a first." Anko pointed out as she leaned back in her seat, "do tell."

"You seemed more focus on the killer than your student," Itachi placed the empty cup on the table, "you didn't seem overall mad about Naruto getting hurt."

"Oh, I'm livid, I am going to carve that motherfucker's dick off with a rusty butter knife if I can. However, let's cut the bullshit, you're wondering if I'd been sad if he'd died." Anko then sternly looked at Itachi, "the answer is a mixed bag. Yes, because he's a kid. No, because people die."

He sighed, "I missed the old Anko, the one who used to smile all the time."

"You didn't seem to mind when we were screwing," Anko stated as she crossed her arms, "what? Want to ask me to run off with you, get married and have kids of my own? Pfft, nope, not fucking happening."

Itachi nodded, sighing as he watched a waitress refill his cup, "thank you."

He took a sip of the fresh tea, looking at Anko, "I don't blame you for your anger."

"I am not angry about the sex if you're wondering, I am angry that you didn't stand up for me when we were kids and my fucking dumbass of a father was trying to marry me off." Anko stated but kept her voice low enough so others wouldn't hear them, "but I learned not to hate you for it."

"So why to have sex with me then," Itachi inquires as he sipped his tea, "seems a little out of left field…even for you Anko."

"I needed to blow steam, plus it didn't help that I was slightly tipsy. Like I said, I had a good time, but that's all it was…just a good time." Anko tells him, reassuring him that she wasn't mad about what transpired.

Itachi lowered his head, "I won't say anything about you having a student. You deserve your happiness Anko, and I am sorry I was too weak to stand up for you back then…and…I owe you so much for that."

She nodded, taking a deep breath, "if it makes you feel any better I don't just screw anyone…hehehe…"

"I know, you were never like that, besides it wouldn't be the first time I had sex to just blow off steam as well." Itachi told her and he rubbed the back of his head, "so, we're on an even level of understanding."

Anko smiled, "still, it was funny how you tried to be romantic and shit."

"I don't like rough sex," Itachi admitted as he looked at her, "but apparently you love it."

"Hey, I got my kinks, you like licking tacos for example." She then bursts out laughing, and then looked at Itachi as started laughing as well. "You see, that is what I missed most…too…your smile."

Itachi got up from the table, sighing, "you have my scroll number if you ever need me Anko. Even if we can't go further than a few little lay here and there, I'm still your friend."

She chuckled, getting up as well, "yeah…and likewise."

Itachi walked away from Anko, leaving her there, she then noticed that he had paid their bill. Sighing, she just looked at her scroll, noting the time. She had to be getting back to her student soon, hopefully, he'd made progress on mediation.

As she exited the eatery she stopped for a moment and looked at Itachi as walked down the street, she lowered her head and sighed. _"I haven't had sex in years, and I missed you so much…why couldn't I just say it…life has really fucked me over."_

 _"_ _If I had a choice back in my childhood, like who I could marry instead of being banished, I would've asked you Itachi. But, you were so tied up in Dragon Clan politics back then you couldn't possibly have hoped to keep peace with other clans, especially Bear since they wanted me."_ Anko brought her hand to her chest as she walked opposite way, she lowered her head.

She felt something wet flow down her face, _"I just wanted to see what it would feel like to be with you, and it felt amazing…which is why I switched it up. I didn't want lovemaking, I wanted to be fucked, straight to the point…so I wouldn't have to feel a thing…"_

 _"_ _Because,"_ Anko wiped the tears off her face, _"I didn't want to be hurt again…"_

* * *

Naruto was in a dark void, he looked at two giant spheres of orange energy and blue energy, he saw something akin to tablets near them. Walking over toward them, he then looked at the tablets, laughing slightly as noted that were just labeling the energy.

"So, this my mindscape huh?" Naruto danced around and skipped about, "kind of blank…"

Behind him, a woman with white hair faced away from him, "it will initially be blank. Until you find your muse and begin to shape it."

"I never meant to offend you the last time I saw you in my dream, I just was having a really good noodle dream miss!" Naruto giggled as he felt a sort of kinship with the being in front of him, but knowingly more than likely she was just a figment of his imagination, "I mean but wouldn't it be cool for me to save the world using a long ramen noodle?!"

She chuckled, her ornate white hair perfectly still in the void, "it would be very interesting to say the least."

Naruto giggled as he made himself float in the air, but when he tried to make the woman float she just remained still, frowning he just inverted himself while crossing his arms. Humming a toon, he then heard the woman hum as it well.

"You know that song?" Naruto inquired, "well…yeah…course you do since I made you, somehow right?"

"Maybe, do you know the lyrics?" She inquired in return.

"Pfft, duh, the song's called Light Pink. My dad told me it was my mom's favorite song, ahem." Naruto took a deep breath, "farewell beautiful lover, I love so but still, I let you go, under this pink sky is where we went our separate ways~"

The woman chuckled, "certainly you must truly stick to whatever you have, boy."

"Hmph, I got a good singing voice, blah!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at her, blowing raspberries with it as he floated down to the ground and shifted himself to land on his feet.

The woman kept facing away from Naruto, "you should just slam both of those energies together."

"W-what, you mean those over there, but didn't Anko say that was dangerous?" Naruto rubbed his chin, he then looked at them, noticing a black spot in both of them.

Naruto took a few moments, then he took a deep breath, "ah screw it!"

He clapped his hands, forming the mudra hand seal for Tiger.

* * *

Coming back into the safe house, she took one looked at Naruto who was floating off the ground, she walked into the kitchen until running back into the living room and felt a soft gust coming off Naruto. Her eyes widened, jaw agape.

 _"_ _What,"_ Anko saw Naruto's forehead a purple diamond on it, "the fuck?"

"Huh?" Naruto's loss of focus made him fall to the ground, right on his buttocks, it made him hiss as he held his buttocks.

He looked around, "ow, what just happened?"

The purple diamond on his forehead disappeared as Naruto held his head and hissed, "ow, ow, why does it burn!"

Naruto stood up, he looked around the room, taking a deep breath as he noticed that things seem to be in more focus around him. He looked at Anko, noting her aura around her, but also noted the light that shined from seemingly within her.

"Anko," Naruto stared deeper, and for some reason felt sad as teardrops fell out of his eyes. "What's…happening…"

Naruto suddenly fell forward, only to get caught by Anko, whose eyes widened as she felt of his aura. Inside of him, a lot of his aura had been transformed into chakra. The dark spot in it had also expanded rapidly, covering the void that it left behind.

That black aura from before.

Naruto took deep breaths, "I'm fine…I'm fine…"

"Hey, Fishcake, why did you cry?" Anko questioned him as she helped toward the couch to sit down.

"I-I don't know," Naruto lowered his head, "I just looked at you and felt…like crying."

 _"_ _That's not a semblance, and that mark on his forehead is definitely not like the seal on his stomach, it's a manifestation of the dark aura within. Hmm, empath?"_ She pressed two fingers on Naruto's temple, "you're in a flux."

"Flux?" Naruto inquired, he slurred slightly from how exhausted he just felt.

"You accidentally converted half your reserves into usable chakra, which flooded your awakening chakra coils with excess chakra. It's not deadly, well, not yet anyway. You see think of your body as a battery, if you overload it, it could explode." She explained to him.

His eyes suddenly widened as yelled, "I could've exploded, what the heck?!"

"No, no idiot, let me finish Fishcake." Anko flicked his forehead, "it means you succeeded in converting spirit energy and physical energy into chakra."

"W-wow really," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I guess that lady in my mind helped out a lot!"

"L-Lady?" Anko inquired as she looked at Naruto.

"Yeah, she had angelic white hair, she didn't let me see her face. However, she told me to just slam my Aura reserves with my spiritual energy. It worked, it felt so right as well, especially when I found this black aura inside of me!" Naruto happily told her before throwing his hands up, "it was totally wicked!"

Naruto started to feel better, in fact, he felt great, he hopped up from the couch. "I feel itchy like I want to punch and fight!"

Anko blinked at him, "um, Naruto can you turn around for just a moment."

"Yeah sure," as he turned around his once blue eyes were glowing red, "what's up."

"You didn't touch any of that black aura, did you?" Anko inquired, looking at the blonde with curiosity.

Naruto blinked, his red eyes turning back into their blue, "what makes you think that?"

"Did you, or did you not?" Anko pressed.

"Yeah, the lady told me too, she said that it was apart from me." Naruto giggled as he rubbed the back of his head, "she's really sweet."

 _"_ _If there was ever a time that I must question my luck, it is now, and I want to know what Minato Namikaze stuck his dick in. Because this kid is awesome and batshit crazy at the same…time…"_ She took a deep breath, _'motherfucker gave me a kid that could very be mine! Save for the fuck I didn't fuck the father, is reverse parental test a thing?"_

 _"_ _Goddamn it, there goes my brain, rabble-rabble! This has been a long and very shitty day, but I guess its all good since Naruto got his chakra to naturally form…I think…maybe it's just an imaginary friend."_ Anko pinched her nose and looked at Naruto, "how long have you known this lady?"

"Oh, she has been in my dreams since dad died!" Naruto announced, a frown found his way onto his face, "is that a bad thing?"

"No, just that…she's…a friend!" Anko snaps her fingers, "a special friend that only you can see."

"Oh, wow, that's so cool!" Naruto declared as he put both hands behind his head, his fox tail wagging.

He pumped his fists, "you're the best teacher ever!"

Anko looked at the boy, rolling her eyes, she then flicked his head. "Well, since I am now the best teacher ever…let's go out for a run Fishcake."

"Aww…man." Naruto groaned.

"If you beat me I'll buy ramen for a week," she held her hand out with her pinky extended, "pinky promise!"

Naruto smiled, giggling like a happy child should and wrapped his pinky around Anko's. "You're on!"


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto was standing outside Sanctum Academy, he looked at it, smiling slightly as he saw the tall structure. "I really, really want to go there~"

"Too bad you're under me, but in return, I can make you a Huntsmen by the time those people go into actual academies." Anko tells while placing her hand on his back, she noted the look of both happiness and sadness, "your father would be proud of you, Fishcake."

Naruto smirked, he sighed, "I know…just wish I wasn't so careless when it came to his scroll."

"Like I said, it was just a machine," Anko said as she gently made him start walking away.

The blonde took a deep breath, then smiled as he looked in the sky. "Anko?"

"Hmm?" She acknowledged him with a hum.

Naruto looked at the skies, "does it ever snow in Mistral?"

"Not really, unless you right where we are, in the mountains. Never seen it snow?" Anko questioned as she looked at the blonde.

He shook his head, "I always overheard the villagers of Busan talk about it."

"Just gets cold and rains nonstop, it sucks." Naruto then tells her with a small laugh, "Busan sucked."

"See, there you go, pick your favorites kid. Cause now, you have choices. So," Anko then bumped him with her fist, "want to do that race, Fishcake?"

Naruto looked at her, smirking before taking off running as fast as he could, she yelled at him. "You little punk!"

"You better not lose, I'm hungry!" Naruto yelled back in reply.

"To Haven, race to Haven!" Anko yelled at him and realized something.

He was running much faster than what he started, looks like The Maki Training would now be ineffective, she watched as he took off. He looked toward the tall buildings, running toward them, they were located near the stairs anyhow.

She followed, not really intent on winning, just seeing where he was agility wise. He surprised her when he started to run up the walls with good pace, she even watched as he flipped backward and springboard near the top of one to just get a head start.

Following closely behind him, she watched as he showed no fear about jumping over gaps in the buildings. Yelling out when he did, he seemed genuinely happy. That's when she noted something else, orange colored wind seems to follow closely behind him.

Chakra?

It looked like, but not only that, his semblance was active, so he could very well be using that to get extra airtime. When he surprised by suddenly stopping, she should've kept running to keep the illusion of the race.

However, he just looked toward the sun as it poked up from behind one of the mountains, he smiled as he clutched his chest. Noting the brightly colored skies of orange, blue, red, and even pink. He then sighed, looking at her.

"I'm not stupid, you're not racing me for real." Naruto stated as he turned her, "but I really never said thank you."

"Huh?" Anko looked at him, "what do you mean?"

"I mean thank you, for taking me under the wing and all of that. I never would've been this happy if I remained in Busan, and I've been taking the advice you been giving me about the scroll…its sunrises like that one…that make me think about my dad." Naruto giggled as he watched a figure run by, "I am not racing you, I'm racing him…"

Anko got flustered slightly, "oi, you want me to race you for real?!"

"No, well yeah, but don't take it the wrong way. I meant that I am not only going to be like my dad," Naruto raised his fist into the air, "I'm going to be better!"

"Your father was legendary, what makes you think you'll do better?" She crossed her arms, grilling him slightly, "Fishcake."

"Because I have you as a teacher," her look turned to one of shock, "Anko Mitarashi The Greatest Swordswoman in Remnant!"

She then smiled and took off at him, she slapped him on the back of the head, "then you better keep up, Fishcake!"

"Oi!" Naruto yelled as he took off behind her, "I'll not only keep up, I'll win!"

It was midday as Naruto was frowning, he had to just poke the bear!

Anko was laughing as she looked at him, "hey Fishcake, look on the bright side, you lost to me."

"Ah crap," Naruto muttered as he waved her off, "now you'll never stop talking about it."

He stopped suddenly, his eyes widened as he looked behind them, "Anko…he's here."

"Who?" She laughed and then noted the look of absolute terror in Naruto's face, "how did you notice?"

"He smells like death, hatred, and just all around bad." She took a sniff of the air, finding nothing, "you can't smell it?"

"Kid, I don't think you're so much as smelling as sensing him, can you get him exactly?" She inquired, reaching for her sword.

Naruto shook his head, "no, I just feel that he's nearby."

Naruto scanned the crowd, looking at them with his eyes, but something was weird as he focused harder. He could see lights, lights in all of the people, varying. Blue, green, red, and the red ones felt…off…like anger and disgust.

Anko looked at him, _"he's sensing negative emotions, perhaps it's a bloodline technique?"_

Naruto kept focusing, now even placing his hands together in the Mudra symbol for Tiger but kept it low just to keep it hidden enough. He took deep, long, breaths. Focusing more and more, until his eyes turned crimson.

He saw something, amiss the colors, there was one that was totally different. It was blacker than night, felt like death…smelled of death!

He realized what she meant by sense, his body just probably made it to where he could _"smell"_ as a means of coping for his ability. However, that didn't make sense to him because that wasn't his semblance, but he wasn't exactly one to argue.

However, his blood ran cold as he noticed the owner of the black color. He turned off his senses, looking directly at the owner through the crowd. The owner had stopped moving, staying just in the center of walking masses.

Knowing that he was safe to do so, because that woman by him wouldn't risk exposing magic users let alone herself to the world. He then looked right at the boy, the boy's eyes still glowing red as they looked upon him.

The Wendigo, mythical as his name was, lived up to his name as he licked his lips. He made sure Naruto could see him, taunting Anko as he looked at her. He had a bruise on his right hand from where Naruto's semblance had impacted him.

Very solemnly did he ever get injured, it just meant that the prey was going to be worth the catch.

 _"_ _I found you, tag you're it."_ The Wendigo mouthed at Naruto before walking with the crowd while winking at Anko.

The man, The Wendigo, had blue eyes and brown hair. He also seemed very familiar, it made Naruto shake slightly as he wanted to run after him. However, when he started moving Anko placed her hands on Naruto's shoulders and gripped them.

She lowered her head, "he's playing us, listen to me Naruto…you do not leave my side once so ever…understood?"

"Y-yes, Anko, did I screw up?" Naruto questioned as he shook.

She shook her head, "no, because now we know what he truly looks like…but he's smart enough not to be out of the view unless he wants to get killed."

Naruto shuttered, then realizing why he chose the forests to hunt, "no one in the forests…Grimm."

 _"_ _Ding-Ding,"_ Anko's eyes even widened as she looked down, finding Naruto's scroll.

The Wendigo's face was on it, "how and when?"

 _"_ _I passed right near you, you should really keep an eye on your student better Anko Mitarashi, Prelate's Spell Book…know of that little relic?"_ The Wendigo inquired from Anko, _"Giles De Rais…in age before the color naming rule ever applied or even thought of, an age of where magic was commonplace."_

 _"_ _He was a quote unquote serial killer back in the days of kings, Vale specifically, he was obsessive of Grimm. Why they hunted Humans and Faunus, how they got stronger with age, and then he realized something…The Grimm had master, had to. No natural thing like this could ever exist,"_ The Wendigo licked his lips, _"imagine if, for a moment, one were to master Dark Magic?"_

"So, you're trying to be a fucking hero," Anko spat as she looked at him, "don't me laugh."

 _"_ _Hehehe, good men often do bad things, but there is no God or Gods to punish them. If you so, just asking, why hasn't anyone punished me?"_ He questioned as he licked his lips, then he looked right at Naruto, _"those red eyes are very befitting of you…hehehe."_

"We will stop you," Naruto declared as he glared at the man through the phone, "you screwed up by giving us your face."

 _"_ _But, you see kid, that's where you're wrong. I have magical abilities,"_ suddenly The Wendigo's face changed to that of a Grimm and then to another person, _"I can be anyone or anything…fool."_

Anko watched him twiddle his fingers, then he looked right at her, _"I can sense a wealth of energy inside of young Naruto there. Make me a deal, I get him, and I leave Mistral."_

"You're out of your fucking mind if you think I'll just hand over my student," Anko then squeezed the scroll, her eyes widened.

 _"_ _Oopsie, I forgot to mention that I deleted all of the photos on this scroll…but I think I did a better job of replacing them with something else."_ The Wendigo laughed as he looked at Anko and Naruto, _"I won't kill again till the next full moon…four days from now."_

Suddenly he hung up, but then much to their horror, pictures of dead children and women started to pop up on the scroll. Each of them having a Cheshire smile cut into their faces, while The Wendigo posed in each one.

Like a Huntsman with a trophy deer.

* * *

Ren was waking up in the hospital as he looked at Nora, "Nora?"

"Ren?!" Nora screamed with happiness, "you're alright!"

"I am," Ren looked at his leg and saw it was there, "thank goodness…"

Nora coughed slightly, looking at her friend before getting up and wrapping her arms around him, "Oh God I was so worried…don't ever do something so stupid alone again, Ren!"

"I was just trying to get you some medical help for your throat," Ren then hugged Nora back, only for the doctor to walk in.

"Ah, young man, you're awake. Good news is that you'll be keeping your leg, the shot didn't impact anything major, thankfully." The doctor then puts a chart on the bed, "we'll be taking you back to X-ray soon enough."

"Okay doctor, but, could you please also see my friend here. She's got the flu, and well, she seems like she's getting better…I think." Ren then heard Nora growl slightly and then face the doctor.

He looked at her, he smiled, "open your mouth young lady."

Nora frowned, opening her mouth and the doctor looked inside of it. He hummed, looking at her, and then smirked. "Looks like your body is strong, I see a few blisters, but they'll go away soon enough."

"Sye-Renmy-tosh-yim-sim." Nora spoke with her mouth open, then felt the doctor quit looking, "just hope you can get back to class soon…I'm about to slam my head into the desk."

"Ah yes, Sanctum, you should be good for combat practice in a few weeks. I'll put you on antibiotics, a pain medication that isn't addictive, and I'll be sure to bill the school since your insurance is through them." The doctor looked at Ren, "you're a very lucky young man, I heard what happened."

"I was lucky enough to have a few good friends," Ren admitted and leaned back in the bed, "is he okay by the way?"

"Oh, the boy, Naruto? Yeah, he's fine, he managed to get you out of the forest when your teachers arrived there." The doctor then looked at him, "my bad, his teacher."

Ren saw the smile on the doctor, it was slightly creepy, he then sighed. "I need a nap."

"What, you just woke up?!" Nora yelled as she looked at her friend, "c'mon, you been out for nearly two days."

"Being unconscious miss Valkyrie is not the same as sleep," the doctor motioned her, "do you need help getting back to your school?"

"Well…I don't really like traveling at night." Nora admitted rather sheepishly, "you wouldn't mind doctor?"

"Of course not, after all, I took the oath to help and do no harm." The doctor laughed as he left the room, "I'll be back up later tonight."

* * *

Naruto was walking with flowers toward the hospital, yellow roses to be exact that Anko had bought him to take to Ren and Nora, he was being escorted by Itachi while she got a nap. Itachi looked down at Naruto, who was bouncing with joy at the prospect of his friend being awake.

"So, Itachi, you and Anko know each other?" Naruto inquired as he smiled, "were you two…"

"No," Itachi sighed as he motioned the boy across the street, "she's just a really good friend from an age's past."

"Oh," Naruto lowered his head slightly, "well she's awesome!"

'I know, so this friend of yours, Ren? Did they say anything regarding his leg?" Itachi questioned Naruto, almost sounding concerned.

Naruto nodded, "yeah, they said he was going to keep it."

The blonde suddenly stopped, he then felt a wave of pressure hit him as he felt frozen in his tracks. His eyes turned red as he looked at the hospital, Itachi immediately understood and he had his semblance ready as they both made a run for it.

It was late in the evening, the sun going down.

Naruto and Itachi both looked around, with them seeing nobody and then ran up the wall toward Ren's room. Itachi managed to pick the lock on the window and open it for them to enter. Ren was laying in the bed, he was asleep.

Nora, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found!

The blonde's heart sank as he looked around, he walked quickly over to Ren, "Ren!"

"Huh, Naruto, those for me?" Ren mumbled as he took the flowers, "or are they for my friend?"

"They were to be for both of you, where is Nora?" Naruto inquired as he looked at Ren.

Ren yawned, he then looked at the empty chair, "probably went back to the academy with the doctor…since when did you have red eyes?"

Naruto bit his lip, scared to tell Ren that The Wendigo may have gotten her, but when the door opened the blonde turned around at the presence of the doctor. He was exuding extreme amounts of darkness around him, but just then he moved back as the bathroom door open.

"Hey Naruto," she then closed the door and faced the doctor, "hey doc!"

Ren caught on to what was going on, "hey, Nora…can I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah, sure Renny, what's up?" Nora inquired as she walked over toward Ren, leaving the doctor all by his lonesome.

The doctor chuckled, looking at them with his blue eyes, his blonde hair had a tinge of black at the base. He took a moment, looking at Itachi, then to Naruto.

"I'll give you this much, you're one lucky little bastard." The doctor closed the door behind him, "but luck can only get you so far."

"You're not that stupid," Itachi was about to activate Amaterasu, but then stopped when the doctor unveiled an oxygen tank from behind him. _"Shit…"_

"Go ahead, we all go boom." The doctor says dryly, all the while tapping his finger on the oxygen tank.

Naruto squeezed his fists, he looked right at the man, unknown to Naruto, however, his hands had started to grow claws which dug in.

Itachi hearing several drops of liquid looked down, his eyes widened slightly as he saw Naruto's hands bleeding from how hard he was squeezing his knuckles.

"W-what's going on, Renny?" Nora mumbled, she was slightly scared.

Ren backed up on the bed, looking right at the doctor, "he's The Wendigo."

Nora's eyes widened as she went to punch into the electrical outlet, "I'll show you for hurting my friend!"

Suddenly The Wendigo unscrewed the top of the oxygen tank, smirking, "go ahead, missy…blow us all up."

Naruto growled further, cocking his arm back and yelled, "I won't blow us up bastard!"

"Naruto don't!" Itachi yelled, but it was too late as Naruto threw his fist forward.

Suddenly Naruto was blasted back as he hadn't trained his semblance well enough to properly control it, his anger getting the better of him, he went crashing out of the window just The Wendigo threw the oxygen tank at Itachi.

The Wendigo smirked as he ran right toward the window that Naruto crashed out of, all the while snapping his fingers. Itachi's eyes widened as burn dust, laced in the door handle-activated. He grabbed Nora and Ren before using his semblance to shield them!

Naruto fell out of the air and luckily landed in a nearby pond, he got up from the water and glared right at The Wendigo as the man charged at him. He looked right up at the window, his eyes watered as he believed his friends to be dead.

"No!" Naruto yelled as he totally ignored the threat, only to suddenly get kicked by The Wendigo, who sent him across the pond.

The blonde crashed through the shallow water, smashing into the metal gate, his aura sparked around him as he struggled to get up. He looked right at The Wendigo who suddenly made energy pulse around him.

Naruto then understood when cameras around them exploded!

Suddenly The Wendigo appeared on the gate behind him before he could react, he sent another kick into the blonde and sent him back through the water. Naruto took one look up at the windows, seeing Itachi, the man jumped down to aid him only for a massive gout of water to explode upward.

The blonde turned around for the source, finding The Wendigo holding up a new hand seal. He growled as he ran right at the man, uncaring for himself as he bashed him in the stomach with both his feet by doing a dropkick. The Wendigo smirked as he lost concentration on his attack on Itachi, he then kneed the blonde boy in the face before grabbing him by the hair.

The Wendigo watched as Itachi landed, he felt Naruto struggle in his arms before he hissed when the blonde bit him!

He let go, but when the blonde tried to dash away he just reached down and grabbed him by the leg. The blonde fell face forward into the water, being held down by Wendigo's leg as he started to drown the boy.

"This little bastard is tough, I'll give him that!" The Wendigo comments as he held Naruto underwater still and watched as Itachi charged toward him.

He could hear LEO sirens in the distance, he suddenly reached down and grabbed scalpel before holding Naruto up. He put the scalpel on the blonde's neck, looking right at Itachi, and smiling.

"You know this game," nicking Naruto over his artery, the man then held the blonde tighter.

"Let him go," Itachi yelled, "it's over!"

"No," The Wendigo spoke as he suddenly smirked, "the fun is only starting!"

Naruto weakly tried to pull the man's arm away from his neck, struggling as he was being choked. He kicked backward, trying to at least hit the man in the testicles, but found he couldn't reach as he flailed about in the man's arms.

"Ita-chi!" Naruto choked, "h-elp!"

"Let him go!" Itachi yelled as he saw the lights of LEO vehicles coming.

The Wendigo smirked as he then ran backward with Naruto in tow, "like I said, you know this game Itachi!"

Itachi tried to intercept, but the man winked as ice dust activated in the water. Itachi jumped up, but one of his leg got caught in the now ice filled pond. He looked right at Wendigo as he jumped up and over the guard railing, and toward an open sewer drain from a construction crew.

"Naruto!" Itachi screamed.

Naruto closed his eyes, he knew if he went down the drain he wasn't coming out!

His eyes suddenly widened as he screamed, a blast of wind ripped off Wendigo, even his arms as he was sent flying away from the blonde.

Naruto slammed into the ground, a few feet away from the drain that The Wendigo then fell down in. The blonde grimaced on the ground, coughing up a wad of blood as he shook. Itachi got near him, just as LEO turned the corner.

"You there, halt!" An officer yelled.

"I'm a Huntsman, don't shoot!" Itachi yelled at them before ordering them, "get some doctors!"

One of the officers ran toward the hospital while looking up, "mother of God…"

He saw the flaming room, looking over at a girl that ran out of the hospital, "is he okay?!"

"Is who okay miss?" The officer asked Nora, "miss?"

"Our friend, he was in our room and went out of the window when The Wendigo attacked us!" Nora told them, watching as several doctors ran past them, apparently someone called a security guard over the radio.

"We don't know, is he the blonde kid we found near the drain?" Nora's eyes watered slightly, and she nodded as Naruto was being brought up.

"That's him!" Nora yelled, only to get grabbed by the police officer.

Suddenly she found herself being dragged away when she tried to scream a piece of cloth went over her mouth, and as she went unconscious the officer chuckled as he slowly transformed. The Wendigo in his black hair and blue eye glory held Nora while wearing a police officer uniform.

"All too easy," he mouthed as he walked into the back alleys.

* * *

The body of the fake Wendigo slowly dispersed into black dust as it was approached by officers, they all looked at each other. Itachi's eyes widened as he followed them, he then he looked back up at the hospital and ran toward it.

"Who was that officer that arrived here first?" He inquired as the officers looked at him, with one officer getting his radio.

"That would be officer Periwinkle," he grabbed his radio, "go for all units."

 _"_ _This is dispatch, we have a four-eighty on officer Periwinkle at Vale PD, all units be on the lookout for squad car Four-Zero."_ Dispatch called on the radio.

Itachi and the officer looked at the squad car that had stopped first.

It was squad car Four-Zero, Itachi then ran toward the hospital.

Intent to check on the kids there.


	9. Chapter 9

Inside of a small cabin, in the middle of the densest part of the eastern woods, Nora Valkyrie slowly woke up. The stench of death almost made her throw up, she had a gag on her mouth, and she was hanging upside down from what she could tell.

She saw in the cabin, a carcass, a human carcass!

She shivered, remembering what had happened slowly, whimpering as she heard the door to the cabin open. The being known as The Wendigo looked at her, still wearing the façade of a police officer, he looked right into her very soul.

"Oh, how pure and innocent, truly a meal to be had in a few days." He walked over to her, grabbing her by the hair.

She screamed into the gag as he drags his tongue across her face, his tongue was purplish in color, his teeth jagged. He made sure to lap at the tears for a moment, letting her go to where she hit the back of the cabin wall.

Muffling, she thrashed about, giving a glare that only made him chuckle more, "I hope that friend of yours can come and save you."

"I am," he waved his hand to and from as he took in the stench, "intrigued about him. His sense of loyalty, despite just meeting you two, eh."

He walked over to a small book, picking it up, Nora took note that it was of black leather. It reeked of death as well and had a pentagram on the front of it. The man's eyes turned red as he opened the book, looking right at Nora as he took a seat.

"Ahem," the man took a moment and reached over to the mug by him, "I hope you take time to appreciate what I am about to teach you. Prelati's Spell Book was Gilles De Rais's greatest gift, besides being a man of The Light God."

"So, please, I will translate for you…but learn these words." The man laughed as he took a deep breath, "Ita, ait in maxilla asini et os asinae et fecit omnes, et perforabis maxillam et os asinae et homo occisus est et milia. Nemo enim carnem sibi parci."

He then looked at her, "and Samson said, with an ass's jawbone I made asses of them all, with an ass's jawbone I've killed a thousand men. No flesh to be spared."

He then got up, placing the book on the same nightstand was, grabbing a bucket and dagger. He put the bucket under Nora, she thrashed, watching him press the dagger against her throat. She whimpered, obviously begging him, but he laughed.

"A conversus angelus daemonium eius gladio per sanguinem innoxium fudit et laverunt impius," he spoke in the dead language, "An angel turned demon, her sword washed in the blood of innocent and wicked."

She screamed into the gag, begging, perhaps even cursing him.

He just stood there, looking at her with soulless eyes, "oopsie…I forgot."

Pulling away, he merely played with the dagger, "I wouldn't kill until the next full moon. My dear, my sweet child, you're still going to live!"

It was an act, celebration and all, he laughed as he turned back toward her. "Unless your friends don't truly love you."

* * *

Anko had to press her hand on Naruto, "and where do you think you are going Fishcake!"

Naruto growled, hitting his bed, "to save Nora!"

"Not in that condition, good lord, you've got a couple of broken ribs." Anko rolled her eyes as she speaks, "now what happened Itachi?"

"He disguised himself as a doctor, ambushing us in the room, he had been aiming to kidnap Nora since the start. Ren got moved into a more secured wing, eyewitness protection, so we can talk about what he's doing here." Itachi walked over toward the activating some sort a seal on it.

The blonde on the bed scoffed, pushing against Anko's hand, "we've got to save her!"

"And we will," Anko barked as he fought against her push, "but you can't do anything with broken ribs because they won't heal properly."

"Screw that!" Naruto yells as he managed to push her off.

She got flustered, "you are an idiot, Fishcake."

Naruto growled, holding his side as he looked at her, "I rather die an idiot than let one of my friends just get treated like an animal!"

Itachi chuckled, "he's got moxie, reminds me of when you were younger Anko."

Anko rolled her eyes, "and I was stupid, but Fishcake here cannot possibly do anything right now."

"We don't have time for this, the man said he wouldn't kill until the next full moon, that's three days from now Anko!" Naruto states as he took hospital gown off, attempting to get off the bed.

The woman frowned, sighing, "and pray to tell how you are going to rescue her?"

"I'm going to go and find that guy, beat'em up, and get Nora back to Ren so they can get out of this nightmare." Naruto struggled as he stood up, "and I don't care if I have to do it alone!"

The man in the room, chuckled, "you sure you didn't pop a kid Anko?"

"Yeah, but looks like fate tells a different story here, fine Fishcake…you can help us _look_ for her." She stated specifically, "and I mean only to look."

The blonde Faunus scoffed, he then claps his hands together before forming the tiger seal, he focused hard. A wave of energy left him, like a radar, he scanned the area. Looking for anything truly so dark as The Wendigo but found as he scanned further away the struggle became more and more.

Naruto took a deep breath, focusing, eventually reaching the other end of the city, only for blood to gush out of his nose as he held his head. Breathing hard, Naruto nearly collapsed if it wasn't for Anko getting him.

"He's not in Mistral City, not now at least," Naruto tells them as he gets a Kleenex and starts wiping the blood off his face.

Anko sighed, "and it only makes it more difficult."

Itachi looked at her, "frankly I think he only stays in the eastern woods. Familiar hunting area, he knew of the forest so well he managed to track and nearly kill young Naruto here."

"Yeah," Anko scoffed, "but Fishcake's a kid."

"Yeah, but by his own admission to me while we were walking he has an extensive knowledge of tracking and forestry. He knew enough to hide himself and Ren in a tree well that I failed to even notice. So, let's say for the sake of argument, he is solely in the eastern forest." Itachi explained his reasoning, looking at the two.

Naruto gripped his head, "and if we're wrong Nora is going to die!"

He suddenly hit the wall, hard enough to put a hole in it, "and it's my damn fault!"

"I got stupid with my semblance, thinking I could be some big shot hero, dumbass-dumbass-dumbass!" Naruto hit the wall some more, his knuckled started to bleed slightly, only for them to steam and the cuts to heal.

He lowered his head, crying a little bit, "I don't want my friends to be hurt…I want to save everyone in front of me…that's why I want to be a Huntsman…"

"And, I screwed up, screwed up and got a friend killed!" Naruto yells as he sobbed, "why do people even like him exist in this world?!"

"Fishcake," Anko gripped his shoulder, "people like him are the reason the clans exist and even Huntsmen. You are fulfilling your dream right now, don't start giving up, he's a serial killer sure…but he's also a sadist. He said he wouldn't kill in three more days, I bet my life that he'll hold to those words just to torture the girl long enough until we either succeed or fail."

"That doesn't sound much better," Naruto said as he shook his head, "and what exactly type of magic is using anyway?"

"Water Magic and Dark Magic. Those are actually very interesting," Itachi pointed out as he looked at them, "Prelati's Spell Book…"

Anko looked at him, "you're fucking serious?"

"Yes," Itachi took a deep breath, "a book that summon demons into the world. After enough sacrifices of children and such, this man may not be our age…he very well could be Gilles De Rais himself."

The violetnette shook slightly, "and the dark spell book contains not only Dark Magic but sealing magic. He could be summoning a demon just to seal it inside of himself."

"But summoning rituals like this only work during a full moon, which is why he'll have to wait on Nora, and why we have time," Itachi stated as he looked toward Naruto.

Naruto shook his head, "so, this is now super serious?"

"Yes Fishcake," Anko placed her hand on his side and began to speed up his healing, "but you're just helping us look."

Naruto nodded, "okay, but I need my sword…just in case."

Anko and Itachi looked at each other, "he's worthy enough, putting his life on the line and all right?"

Naruto's master looked at him, she sighed, "very well…but after we're done its back to regular training."

He understood, nodding his head, "deal."

* * *

The Wendigo dragged Nora behind him by her hair, laughing all the while as walked over toward a clearing. The clearing had a massive pentagram, in the five points of the start were kanji symbols for the elements.

It was a like a barrier of sorts, no Grimm tracks anywhere near it. However, in the center of it was a pole with a hook on it. He grabbed her, hoisting her up to where the rope was tied on the hook. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the clearing.

"My place is soul foul, so wicked, not even Grimm dare step here. Progress, and once I have a Demon's Soul, I can command them. A new holy incursion, a new crusade, and I will delight in the blood washed scenery of Mistral." He walked over to her, pulling her gag.

"Let me go, you creep!" Nora yelled at him, thrashing on the hook.

He chuckled, "I'm afraid my dear, that is no longer an option. The first day passes quickly, and you run out of time ever quicker."

"Please, please, I don't want to die…" Nora whimpered as she looked at him, "I have someone…that…I…"

"Aww," he stroked her cheek, "how adorable."

"A young girl, on the edge of becoming a young woman, in love with a boy. Honestly, I don't take joy in killing you, my dear…I take great pleasure in your suffering, however." He gripped her hair, making her scream, "and once you are sacrificed I will gain my rewards promised to me long ago."

Nora hocked a wad of spit, hitting him in the face with it, she looked at him definitely. Tears welled in her eyes as she watches him remove the spit from his face, he chuckled, turning away only to suddenly turn around and smack her hard enough to break her nose.

He looked right at her, "you little witch, I will now make sure the sacrifice is slow and painful…"

Suddenly, however, he took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," he pats her head, "we'll make it quick and painless."

* * *

Naruto limped slightly as he kept his hand on the tiger seal, walking in the eastern forest, he was being followed by Itachi and Anko, the duo stayed near her student just in case The Wendigo found a way to hide from Naruto's ability.

The night was falling quickly, the moon nearly full, Naruto stopped as his eyes snapped open. Red irises looked into the forest ahead, seeing something very unnatural, foul. It wasn't The Wendigo's signature, but it was similar.

"There!" Naruto yelled out, running toward it.

"Fishcake," Anko yelled out at him, "don't you dare run off like this!"

They made it into the forest clearing, only for them to see a pentagram on the ground, it had a note in the middle of it. Anko walked over toward it, picking it up, she growled as she saw the writing on it.

 _"_ _I want to play a game, you've come this far fox boy, maybe we can play a little game. What is tall, unwavering as the wind howls?"_ Anko looked at the note, then at the mountains, "he's leaving us riddles."

Naruto growled, "bastard…"

He clapped his hands together, forming the tiger seal once more, his eyes shined brighter as he looked into the forest leading toward the mountains. The blonde took a deep breath as his tail waved behind him, he suddenly locked on to The Wendigo's signature.

"Anko, Itachi, six o'clock!" Naruto yelled as he watches them charge ahead, he did his best to keep up.

They soon came to another clearing near the mountains, with The Wendigo casually sitting upon a throne of sticks. The man chuckled, he was wearing a mask that looks like a deer's skull. He looked at the trio, waving his hand.

"Welcome to the first part of the game, as you could guess you two, I am nothing more than a clone…and I'll give you a hint on the girl's location, but I need a payment first." He spoke as he suddenly grabbed a knife, tossing it over toward them.

The man looked at them, "and that sensing ability will not see past the darkness I cast across this entire forest. Little boy."

Naruto growled, picking up the knife, looking at the symbol on the ground. It was It was a straight line with two other lines giving sharp turns and interceding across the middle (berserk symbol from Berserk.), it bared a red glow as Naruto walked toward it.

"I am thirsty," he spoke with a smile, "I want you to pour your blood over that seal."

Looking at the knife, "and if I refuse?"

"Nora Valkyrie dies." The man simply says, "and I'll just simply grab her friend for the ritual."

"Give me the knife Fishcake," Anko held her hand out, "I'll bleed."

"NO!" The Wendigo clone screamed, "I want the blood of the unspoiled child, let him sacrifice a little for a girl…hahaha…"

Naruto didn't hesitate, he looked right The Wendigo before stabbing his hand on the ground. He glared right at the monster, yelping from the pain from the serrated knife, his wound closing but bleeding profusely around the edges of the knife.

The Wendigo laughs, looking at Naruto spill blood on the seal, "good boy…"

Naruto removed his hand off the seal, only for the seal to start bubbling where his blood was, suddenly a figure began to emerge out of a black goo. It was a Grimm!

The Grimm had a foxlike appearance, with its tail swooshing behind it, its long sharp claws jittered against each other as it emerged from the symbol. It had the same symbol on its head, The Wendigo roared out in laughter, he threw his arms out.

"At last," The Wendigo screamed, "I am a creator of Grimm hahaha!"

The pool grew slightly bigger, "and it only took the blood of a child to do so…hahaha."

"Where is the girl?!" Itachi demanded, "we've played this game."

The Wendigo frowned slightly, looking at them, "party pooper…over the mountains through the woods…"

Anko's eyes widened, "to Grandmother's house we go."

The Wendigo smiled, "good, good…but, I suppose I should just say thank you."

Naruto's eyes widened as black tentacles suddenly emerged from the portal, grabbing hold of him, the real Wendigo faced him from the other side of it. Anko moved to stop him but was too late as Naruto was dragged in.

"I so do enjoy," The clone licked his lips, "a free meal."

"You bastard!" Anko screamed but then watches as The Fox Grimm roared out and faced her.

Its tail grew bony, sharp, The Wendigo chuckled. "I believe I'll call this beast…Omi."

* * *

The duo watched as the beast grew in size, becoming the size of a tree as they got ready to fight.

Naruto yelped as he was dragged by his tail, thrashing against The Wendigo as he was pulled into the pentagram where he could see Nora. The black tendrils held him tightly as The Wendigo laughed, looking at Nora.

"And," he tossed Naruto to the ground, "the hero of the hour."

"No!" Nora thrashed against the pole, "Naruto, get up!"

The blonde fox Faunus growled, standing up, gripping his sword before removing it from its scabbard. The Jian shined brightly as he focused energy into it, The Wendigo just rolled his eyes, looking at the blonde with mirth.

"I lied by the way," The Wendigo stated with a twisted smile, "how naughty of me."

He made one of the tendrils form a sword, a rapier, he looked right at Naruto. "As you may have already discussed, who am I? Well, that is simple really, I am the priest of old."

"Be sober, be vigilant; because of your adversary the demon, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The Wendigo walks toward Naruto as he spoke.

Naruto got ready, slightly limping on his left side, "I'm not afraid of you."

"Oh, my dear boy, you shouldn't be afraid of me. You should be afraid of what vile things shall be done to your corpse, the blood that'll be used to summon a great demon to which I shall seal within me. I will then bring forth my own Grimm, then the city will burn, now come then, foolish child." The fallen priest laughs, "have at me."

Forming the tiger seal as Naruto held the sword in his mouth, Naruto charged chakra throughout his coils, he then gripped the sword as he looked at the man. He roars out as he charged, The Wendigo smirks, easily blocking the flurry of strikes with his rapier and moving to where he could get behind Naruto.

However, he was stunned when the blonde managed to turn in time and deflect his stab, he backed up as the blonde cocked his fist back. "Typhoon, roar!"

A loud bang sounded as the wind flew from his fist, sending him backward as well, but The Wendigo was hit full on by the semblance. Knocking him through a tree, much to Naruto's surprise, the blonde skidded to a stop.

Nearly to the edge of the pentagram, taking a deep breath, Naruto backed up only to a black tendril emerge just on the edge and hit him back toward the centre. He heard laughing as the fallen priest walked back into the circle, looking at Naruto, chuckling.

"Not bad little boy," the fallen priest walked toward Naruto, "another one in you?"

"Shut your mouth!" Naruto screamed as he cocked his fist back, digging into the ground with his heel before launching his semblance forward again.

The Wendigo laughs as he was hit, knocked back toward the edge, but this time he dug his heels in. He looked right at Naruto, smirking as he formed hand seals, various hand seals. Naruto's red eyes glowed brightly as he sheathed his blade and did something that amused the Wendigo.

"Copying me won't work, foolish child." He called out.

He suddenly finished, on the tiger seal, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

He reared back, blowing hot fire toward Naruto, only for the blonde's eyes to shrink as he dodged out the way at the last second, he could see inside of the man. The chakra coils, everything, everything that Anko had explained to him during their trip together so far.

How they flowed, he saw where the chakra was rubbing against each other in the man's throat, bursting, growing hotter. He went for broke, doing the same thing, he felt something hot build up inside as he saw the man go through the hand seals again, but he held his.

The Wendigo smirked as he finished the same attack, "die, Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The hot flames that came from the man's mouth neared Naruto as the blonde suddenly reared back, he then roared out as flames launched from his mouth as well!

The fallen priest's eyes widened as his attack was matched, by the young child as his eyes glowed brighter and brighter red. Black veins appearing down his arm, indicating his chakra taxing his body, but it perturbed the demon worshiper as he backed away just in time to see his attack get overpowered when Naruto added his semblance into the mix.

Blowing him backward at the same, but he looked right the priest's stunned face and got his sword out to stop his launch. He then used his momentum to swing around his sword and launch himself toward the man.

The Wendigo growled, deflecting Naruto's strikes as the blonde dodged several of his. Naruto danced around with the man, clashing their blades together, with the blonde losing ground as the more experienced fallen priest suddenly kicked him toward the outer section of the pentagram.

Naruto felt several tendrils from behind him, his instincts kicked in as he suddenly turned and slashed them apart with his sword. They disintegrated when the light touched them, Naruto then realized something, all he needed was one good shot at the bastard!

The fallen priest formed several hand seals, "let's see you try to do it with water, little punk!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he barely dodged the jet of water shooting from the priest's mouth, it cut down a tree when the man tried to angle his head to follow Naruto. The blonde jumped up and dodged, but some of his hair was cut off from the stream.

He cocked his free hand back, "Typhoon, roar!"

The Wendigo's eyes widened behind the mask as he dodged, the air slamming into the ground, cratering it slightly. However, the blast managed to knock Nora off the pole, and onto the ground.

Breathing heavily, Naruto landed on the ground, sheathing his sword as he dodged another jet stream of water. He jumped, up, forming the hand seals he saw the priest perform. Ending it on Tiger, he flipped forward.

"Fire Style: Fireball JUTSUUUUU!" Naruto screams as he launched fire from his mouth.

The man smirked as he launched a water current from his mouth, which easily pierced through the flames, extinguishing them. However, his eyes widened when the blonde suddenly emerged from the steam cloud.

His sword poised to strike him down!

The Wendigo jumped back in time, "no more games, Dark Art: Blood Seek!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he avoided the first tendril, he ran fast around the pentagram, avoiding the other two with some effort. He turned back toward the man, he saw Nora laying on the ground, all bruised and beat up.

His rage broke!

Red aura suddenly appeared around him, making the man's eyes widen as black veins went down further on Naruto's arms.

"I swear on my life, as a Huntsman in training!" Naruto screams out as he charged right at the man, enhancing his movements with chakra, "that my eyes will save anything in front of theee **em!** "

The roar of passion made his aura explode, he gathered it into his right fist, "TYPHOON, ROAR!"

The Wendigo got knocked out outside of the arena, the most powerful of the attacks so far, Naruto's features become wild as he sent the man flying. He turned on his heel as he formed hand seals, ending it on Tiger, he then leaned back.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Naruto screams once more, launching the flame, surprised that he didn't go flying back this time around.

The stream of fire raised upward, nearly impacting the man, but his eyes widened as several dark tendrils suddenly fell down. All of them hit him in the shoulders, anchoring him to the ground when they stabbed through!

The Wendigo dropped down, his face burnt slightly, "die!"

Naruto used his willpower, biting through the pain to jump up and the man's face. The Wendigo was stunned at the boy, believing the youngster to be weak, but yet here he was, going toe to toe, with a struggle no doubt.

The tendrils deformed, with Naruto jumping, angling himself to where his sword fell out. He grips it as it fell into his hand, jerking his body mid-air to suddenly slash the sword across the man's neck. Going deep enough to where the man's head came off his shoulders.

He won!

That was until The Wendigo exploded into black smoke, the real Wendigo appearing behind Naruto.

"You lose," he said as he reared back with his sword.

"DIE!"


	10. Chapter 10

**_(_** ** _I'm only asking for patience, Epic Length stories take their time, its why a lot of the very people reading this story also read Silent Moon. Because I made characters in depth, and "dragging" it out isn't dragging it out if I am building the world._**

 ** _Especially since it'll focus more on the other subjects of the world._**

 ** _I'm not angry, I'm still going to write, but it just frustrates me when I do the best that I can to be detailed and people want me to rush through something or not even build a world. If I am going to do something, then by my own standard I'm going to do it right proper._**

 ** _I'm a watered down Kubrick…do it right…one hundred twenty-seven times…yeah~_**

 ** _Thank you for your time, please take care, and God bless._**

 ** _-Blazeraptor54.)_**

 ** _P.s...i changed the pairing again...its Velvet here...sorry..._**

* * *

The world slowed down, Naruto breaths were like a crawl, black dust exploded in front of him as the head of The Wendigo signaling that he was a fake. The real one had appeared behind Naruto. The blonde's bloody wounds had begun to steam from the last time, but he wasn't able to escape, the rapier aimed right for his heart.

And, he couldn't escape!

"Naaaruuuutoooo!" Nora screamed in the slow world, the blonde's arms had no feeling in them, likely due to the fact that wounds probably put them in shock.

Pure momentum and ingenuity was his last-ditch effort, it failed him miserably!

The Wendigo had a smile on his face as he screams, "Diiiiiieeee!"

Suddenly a red light appeared from the forest, making The Wendigo turn to it, his eyes widened as he barely turned in time to block a red arrow made of aura from hitting him. He could see a pair of red eyes from the forest, it wasn't a Grimm, and it didn't bare the distinct Sharingan appearance of Itachi's red eyes.

These eyes were demonic, swiftly they moved among the trees, repositioning before another red arrow flew out. This time aimed at Naruto, the blonde barely ducked in time before it shot and grabbed his clothing. The force behind it so strong it propelled him off the ground, out of the pentagram, and stabbing into a tree.

Had he just been saved?

He never saw the red eyes, the fear evident now on Wendigo's face, especially as he turned around to block another arrow and his sword came out of his hands. He turned to go after the girl, hoping to use her as a shield, but a red arrow caught her and sent her out of the pentagram just like Naruto had been done.

The Wendigo sensed danger, dodging to the side as he looked to where the arrows were coming from. Whoever was firing was a being that was highly skilled, highly intelligent, and was making sure he was held off. Not good enough to land a fatal blow, but good enough to hold him there.

Who was behind that bow?!

"Dark Art: Blood Seek!" The Wendigo launched the blood tendrils from his mouth, they headed for where the eyes were.

Finally, the arrows stopped, he then turned to Naruto, "looks like your friend is dead…hehehe….HAHAHA!"

Naruto grimaced, pulling himself off the arrow in the tree, it bursts into energy as he did. It looked at though it only further confirmed what the Wendigo said. The man charged right at Naruto, the blonde saw his sword laying just behind the man.

He wished he had it!

The Wendigo reformed his sword, screaming as he approached Naruto, only for the blonde to suddenly flash away in a golden light!

He stumbled, nearly hitting the tree, but he did bury his sword into the bark. The man looked behind, looking where the blonde was, on the ground, holding his sword. Naruto held The Flying Thunder God Blade with both hands as he forced his arms to move through the pain.

"It's…It is not…over…yet." Naruto grimaces as he struggled to walk toward The Wendigo, "I'm…not…dead…yet…"

"Those little bursts of chakra gone from you, how pathetic boy, the old warriors that used magic in the ancient days could fight successfully afterward. Proof, proof I say of this world's need to suffer!" Wendigo pulls his sword from the bark, walking toward Naruto.

The blonde took a deep breath, "I said I am not done…I'm…not…dead yet."

The Wendigo rolls his eyes, charging, Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the man coming. He raised his sword up from where he had it pointed down, actually deflecting the strike that was meant for him, he followed up by jumping and using his moment to slam his blade down The Wendigo's rapier.

The man was shocked, he thought the blonde was about collapse!

"Just," the man dodged and was forced to hold a side slash from Naruto with his rapier, "give up!"

"Give up," Naruto suddenly jumped off his one foot and wind gathered around his leg as he roars, "on me giving UP!"

The Wendigo's eyes widened, "w-what?!"

"Typhoon," Naruto screams as he throws the kick laced with semblance, "ROAR!"

A loud bang came from the smacking of the wind hitting The Wendigo, he yells out as he was sent flying, Naruto landed on the ground but quickly got to his feet and ran. Screaming through the night and the pain, tears in his eyes from pain as he ran forward.

 _"_ _My promise to this world,"_ wind gathered all around and increased his speed, _"is to protect everyone from walking nightmares like YOU!"_

Blasting off his feet, Naruto caught Wendigo off guard as he slammed into him, using his entire body as a weapon. Slamming him through a couple of trees, Naruto was breathing hard, his orange aura sparks around him.

Naruto watched as a black mass moved among the trees, he saw The Wendigo head back toward Pentagram, just as Nora got herself up. He quickly activated his semblance once more, without aura he was vulnerable to anything now, but he was facing an opponent who just shatters right through it anyway.

It didn't matter, he didn't matter, his loved ones were the only thing that truly matters!

"I said," Naruto suddenly appeared in front of The Wendigo with a burst of speed from his semblance, "stay away from my friends!"

The Wendigo slid to stop just in time to avoid a slash from Naruto's sword, the blonde's wounds had bloody patches over them, but the skin was fully closed now. Naruto jumped to avoid a sweep kick, spinning in the air just as he launched Wendigo away again with a kick.

He suddenly felt hands on his back, "we need to go!"

He turned toward Nora, begrudgingly he looked to where The Wendigo was struggling to get up this time around. However, before he could leave, he decided to do one last thing. He gathered another charge of his semblance, the last charge, aiming it right into the center of the pentagram.

"GAME," Naruto hit the ground with all his might, "OVER!"

The pentagram glowed, the symbol splitting apart due to it being broken on the ground. The Wendigo screams as he gets up, wailing at his destroyed creation, he hit the ground like a crazed lunatic.

Nora caught Naruto as he collapsed, putting him up on her shoulders, running quickly and as fast as possible.

The Wendigo wanted to pursue them, but he felt something watching him, and decided it was just best to escape!

* * *

Anko was breathing hard as she and Itachi faced down The Omi, it had gone through several forms, finishing on the mass of blubbery flesh with tentacles. She looked at Itachi, watching as it squirmed toward them, the mass's tentacles had spikes at the end.

"Great," Anko looked at Itachi, "never thought I see the day that a Grimm would become a nightmare fuel hentai monster…jeez, this Wendigo guy is fucked."

"Amaterasu doesn't work on it," Itachi struggled to get up, "and it got a barrier around it…got to admit it…he's not dumb."

"A blood sacrifice," Anko realized and then scoffed, "fucker got us at the moment."

Suddenly the blubbery mass stopped, it squirmed about, only to then fall into a black liquid before bursting into black smoke. Anko just looked up into the sky and threw out of her hands.

"Thank you, Light God, oh I'm going to start going to church now…sweet…beautiful…boring church." Anko laughs as he collapsed to her knees, breathing hard.

"Um, Anko," Itachi saw as Nora fell with Naruto near the edge of the mountain. "You may want to look up."

Anko looked up, "oh no…"

She ran over to the side of the mountain, running up it, and getting to Naruto. "Oh no, oh no…"

"He's fine," Nora breathed, "he may want to cut down on Ramen…"

"Ramen~" Naruto drawls, he moans and grumbles, "sounds…good…right now."

Anko couldn't help but laugh, "well Naru-Fishcake…um…we'll get you some after we get you to a hospital."

"Aah man~" Naruto complains, weakly looking up at Anko, his blue eyes havingred around the outer portion from his chakra was receding.

* * *

"So, you fought a guy who manages to hold his own enough to push us a little." Anko tapped his head, "not nice to lie Fishcake."

"I am telling the truth, frankly, I am not in a good mood since they gave me a shot on my butt!" Naruto wailed slightly, "and it still stings!"

Anko rolled her eyes, "you can take getting stabbed and beat around, but a needle and you lose your shit…my luck I guess I'd get a student who can somehow hold his own against a demonic ex-priest."

"Wa-wait hold my own, I had help from Itachi!" Naruto pointed at Itachi, "and he was using a bow."

"I don't use a bow, I suck at archery, shocking I know…" Itachi stated as he looked at Naruto, "but…then who helped you?"

Anko hummed, "well doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is that you're a reckless idiot and I have a proper punishment for you."

"Oh c'mon, I saved Nora!" Naruto argues.

"Yes," Anko ruffled his hair and smiled, "that's why your punishment is keeping your sword…you're worthy enough."

Naruto's lips quivered, "y-you're joking right…hahaha…right?"

She shook her head, Naruto started to cry a little bit as he suddenly brought his arms around her. He sobbed into her shoulder, she suddenly froze, why was he crying?

Itachi looked at her, "I erased Nora's memory save for him rescuing her and her carrying him out."

He walked toward the door, "I'll be heading out of the city in a few days, but I'll stay if something else emerges."

Anko brought her hands around the blonde, she then looked up at Itachi when he whistled, she watched him smile.

He then mouthed something, so that Naruto couldn't see it, _"can you come out here real quick?"_

She got up, walking over toward Itachi, "I'll be right back Naruto."

"Alright, Anko, I'll be here…getting butt shots." He laughed, giggling a little bit, now the morphine was kicking.

Stepping out of the room, closing the door, Itachi looked at her. "I know the other day, where we had sex was a mistake, we were both too drunk…to make a good choice."

Anko held up a finger, "I'm not mad about that Itachi, so let it go."

Itachi looked away, she noted something slipping down his eye, "I should've just taken up…the offer all those years ago."

 _"_ _Ooh,"_ Anko looked at him, "th-that…"

 _"_ Anko, you were right about me, I am coward…I feared my father. I should've been like you, you were always so much stronger than me, even if it didn't show in a fight." Itachi reached over and grabbed her hand, "and I know too much time has passed to ever make up for me leaving you like I did."

He took a deep breath, "I am asking if you want to just put away the sword, bury the hatchet…and start anew?"

She stood there, looking into his eyes, she then lightly smiled. "I'm not available Itachi, I'm sorry, too much time has made me a hermit. I have a student that needs me to train him to be what I promised him, and I need to find myself again, I'm lost in this mad world too…you know."

The man nodded, "I know, but you asked me all those years ago if I loved you…do you still want the answer?"

Anko looked at him, "it's been so long, but…let me guess, you used to."

"I do," her eyes widened, "and I left the clan the same as you…I went looking for you and couldn't find you…"

Anko felt her heart drop a little bit, "so…all this time I couldn't find you…"

"I was looking for you," Itachi laughed a little bit, "kind of a fucked up thing about life huh?"

Itachi then took a deep breath, "I'll be leaving the city in a few days like I said, I don't regret that night…but, just wish…you know it didn't happen while we were hammered off our gourd."

Anko looked at him, "is this goodbye, I mean actual goodbye Itachi?"

He looked at her, shaking his head, "no…it's a see you later…if you want to see me later."

Smiling, Anko nodded, "fine. You know what, fine, I'll see you later then. But, next time, you're going to have to work for it."

"Plan to," Itachi turned around but then as he walked away he turned toward Anko, "by the way…when I said you cared more about the murderer than your student…I meant that you need to learn how to focus on what matters most."

He stood there, "that kid in there is something special Anko, don't let his talent go to waste, because I want to fight him myself when he grows up."

He walks away, only to turn and whistle and catch Anko's attention.

He placed two fingers on his lips, tossing it toward it her before walking out of the hospital hallway, she smiled, and this did something she never thought she'd ever do. She felt a tear slip down her face, she wasn't crying because she was sad.

She was crying because she felt like she belonged and had someone that needed her.

It made her fade back into the horrible memory she had, the day she chose banishment.

* * *

 _It had been a horrible day, a Grimm somehow surprised Anko, she just looked down at her wounds. Itachi was dressing them, she sighed, The Silver Bird Clan Heiress looked at the heir to The Dragon Clan. He smiled, wrapping her leg up._

 _"_ _Give it a few days," Itachi said as he smiles, "it'll heal…"_

 _"_ _Itachi…" Anko looked at him, "I think I need to tell you this, I don't think I can go through with this…I mean the wedding…I don't want that man in there."_

 _"_ _I know," Itachi sighed as he looked at her, "I wish I could stop it."_

 _Anko smiled weakly, "why's that?"_

 _"_ _Because I care about you, but, I can't stop it…the law and all." Itachi took a deep breath and got up, only to have his arm grabbed by Anko._

 _She looked up at him, "run away with me…please…"_

 _Itachi's eyes widened a little bit, he turned to her, "run away with…you? Anko, you'll be banished, and so will I!"_

 _"_ _It doesn't matter," Anko states with passion, "I don't want this life anymore…I want you okay! I would rather have the person I fell in love with destitute with me, then live a rich lifestyle just pumping out kids!"_

 _"_ _I'm a warrior, I don't want to be a housewife!" Anko yells as she sobbed a little bit._

 _Itachi looked down at her, "Anko…I can't…"_

 _"_ _Don't you love me?" Anko inquires, tears in her eyes, "was the kiss the other day not real?!"_

 _"_ _It was," Itachi looked away, "and it was a mistake on my part…"_

 _"_ _No, Itachi, it was my mistake…" She looked down, "I've always had trouble seeing the real in people."_

 _"_ _Anko," Itachi looked at her, "I can't, and you know it."_

 _"_ _Why have you never stood up for me, it's always about The Clans this and The Clans that!" She screamed at him, she sobbed, "I love you…please don't abandon me…"_

 _Itachi looked stunned, he stammered a little bit, "Anko…I…"_

 _He suddenly found the room hard to breathe in, "I have to go, I'm sorry!"_

 _Anko's heart shatters as he runs out of the room, she barely could stand up on her own. She grimaced as she reached over toward her sword, grabbing a few articles of clothing to put on. She wasn't going to wait anymore, she had to leave._

 _It had to be now!_

* * *

She took a deep breath, "yeah…let's bury the hatchet Itachi."

* * *

The Wendigo was running, running fast, he stopped for a moment. Breathing hard, his heart pounded in his chest, he threw up on the ground from how much he had been running. He looked up, his eyes widened a person dressed in white and wearing a mask with a foxlike appearance stood above him.

"Stop, stop it," Gilles De Rais screams, "demon!"

The masked figure simply responded by making a black sphere form into a bow, loading a red arrow into it, taking a deep breath the figure shot an arrow that intentionally missed The Wendigo. He had been running for three days straight, he didn't have time to properly use the bathroom.

He struggled to get up, only for him fall forward, he was breathing hard. "How…how are you able to withstand my attacks?!"

He turned onto his back, crawling away as the figure dropped down from the tree, the bow disappearing. Slowly, several Grimm gathered around the area, all of them walking behind the figure. The figure then slowly stopped as the fallen priest put his back as against a tree.

Slowly, the figure reached up, removing the mask to reveal a woman with pale skin.

Black veins went down her eyes, she looked at Gilles De Rais with a look a predator gives to a soon to be meal. She sighed, looking at him through her red eyes that were the only light coming from her jet black sclera.

A Beowulf brushed up against her hand, "shh, soon my creation."

"C-creation, you're the leader of them?!" Gilles De Rais screams, "Begone, begone foul demoness!"

"You're too far gone to dare call upon a God's help, really, you make a mockery of yourself fallen priest. Hunting little children who couldn't fight back, until you found one that could, and he held his own well enough. Did it ever strike your fancy that perhaps, just perhaps, those red arrows were made to also empower him with extra chakra?" The woman inquired as she walked toward him, "the girl he was protecting I couldn't care about if I tried."

The man shook as she stood above him now, "I care not for humans, I care not for their ways and honeyed words they falsely use to call a God to their aid."

She reached down, gripping the man's throat and hoisting him up, he struggled and kicked against the one-handed grip. Somehow, someway she had stood over him now, perhaps using magic to grow taller for the sake of torture.

Bringing her blackened lips to his ear, she giggled, "try not to die on me too soon…I would love to hear mimic the sounds of all those little children preyed upon."

"Because," she then slammed her right hand into his chest, ripping through bone and muscle with her claws, "you dare…attack my own."

"Normally, I would feed on you, but I dare not put the blood and soul of a child murderer. It is a sully to my own being, and not even an honor you're worthy of, instead, you'll feed my Beowulfs." She got to what she wanted, gripping her hand around his heart.

Gilles De Rais looked at her, "w-wh-who are you?"

The woman looked at him, "I am the daughter of destruction itself, Salem."

She then ripped out his heart, the blackened organ in her hand pulsated before looked at him. She let him fall back to pull anything left attaching to it off on its own. She watched as it beat within her hand, seeing the souls of many children within.

"I may be a monster," she squeezes the organ until it pops in her hand, freeing the souls, "but I have standards."

"Unlike you," she tosses the dead organ to the ground as Gilles De Rais was dragged by a few Beowulfs into a feeding circle, "just barely worthy enough of being dog food."

"Did he see you?" A voice called out to her, questioning her.

A man with blonde hair with red highlights and deep red eyes stood in a tree line. He had a feral look to him, he looked Faunus, but something was just off about him. Like the body he had wasn't his own, nor did it match what he really was.

However, he then spoke in a silky smooth voice that uttered a single phrase, "my beautiful Goddess."

Salem looked up at the man, "no, he hasn't seen me…you?"

"Nope," the man states as he had tail suddenly wrap around his waist, "are we still waiting for it?"

"Yes," Salem states to the man, "waiting for the first of many."


	11. Chapter 11

**_(So, I was thinking instead of Blake, what about a vote? Weiss, Cinder, Emerald, or dare I say…Neo? Let me know in the reviews and I'll gladly set the vote up. By the way, anyone see the new Chibi, they kind of hinted something about Neo that makes sense in context…see you around readers!_**

 ** _Ooh, almost forgot, Silent Moon gets updated this weekend!_**

 ** _Also, I found a theme song for this story, Me and Creed (and its frigging beautiful._**

 ** _-Blazeraptor54!)_**

* * *

Naruto yawns as he hops up, "think I somehow killed him?"

"Doubt it,' Anko says as she looks around the area, "he didn't seem like the person to just go down."

Naruto limped a little bit, still healing several broken ribs, he looked at the trees and all markings on the ground. They soon came upon where the pentagram had been, finding that it was still gone, still totally destroyed.

Anko puckered her lips, chuckling a little bit, "you must've been pissed."

"I got tired of his shit," Naruto scoffs as he looked at where he last flung the man, "and yes."

Suddenly they heard movement, they both turned around in time to see a figure sitting on top of a tree branch, wearing a white mask in a likeness of a fox. The figure was obviously a woman, she had a feminine figure, from Anko could tell.

She yawns, "you won't find him, The Wendigo. He's currently digesting in some Beowulf stomachs, a rather fitting end to a rabid dog."

"How," Anko looked at the woman, "he was much powerful than a Beowulf."

"Three days of running, defecating on yourself, and fear." The woman in the mask almost sound in a dreamy manner, "normally I find torture repulsive…but, in his case, it was always long overdue."

"So, you killed him?" Naruto questioned, rubbing the back of his head.

She smirked under her mask, they couldn't see her eyes, but that had been red the entire time. Looking right at Naruto, she could see his aura coils and chakra network, all of them flaring with intense fervor. She looked right at Anko, her aura coils and chakra coils also flared with the same fire.

Except the boy's were like an entire forest on fire, and Anko's was just a building at best!

She goes to get up, watching as Anko went for her sword, "no need. We aren't enemies, more like allies, Anko Mitarashi."

"How do you know my name, are you a tracker?" She questioned, still reaching for her blade.

The masked woman merely chuckled, "I am many things, but The Clans I am not."

She turned her back to Anko and Naruto, "report back to Mistral City because they no longer have to worry about a serial killer."

"Y-yeah, sure, um…I guess we say thank you?" Naruto looked at Anko as he rubbed the back of his head.

Anko just looked at him, "no, we just simply respect that she killed someone we had trouble with and move on."

"You'd do well to heed her words boy," the masked woman states, "you only respect those you find that have your back…and I do not."

Naruto took a deep breath, forming the tiger seal, he looked right at her as he saw a blinking red light coming from her. It made him wince, she was practically a sun of aura and chakra, he looked right at her as she turned around.

She chuckled under mask once more, suddenly appearing in front of Naruto much to Anko's surprise, she cupped the boy's chin.

"My oh my, what beautiful ruby eyes you have, a bloodline?" She inquires, but she already knew the answer, she had given him that bloodline after all.

Naruto shook slightly, but stared into the eye holes, catching a brief glimpse of red eyes.

"Who are you?" Naruto inquires, for some reason he felt a sort of attraction to the woman, not romantic more familial.

The woman chuckled, tapping his head after backing off, "a friend…to you at least"

"Naruto," Naruto greeted her as he rubbed the back of his head once more, "Naruto Namikaze."

"I don't sense evil from you," Naruto spoke up, "so I guess you're telling the truth."

"Honey," the woman backs off a little bit and gets ready to head out, "the word evil is very subjective. That Wendigo was an evil bastard, but I also kill those who commit crimes, frankly, we're all killers."

She then smiled, "Huntsman or otherwise."

The woman sighs, "I had better leave, my partner is waiting for me."

She jumps into the trees, however, Naruto felt like running toward her. For some reason his heart, no his very soul, demanded that he just jump and follow her. However, he fought back those feelings, standing there besides Anko.

"She's…" Naruto breathed out a little bit, "weird…"

"We should get going Fishcake, one more night in Mistral City and we move to Windrunner. Then off this boring continent and hello The Crescent Islands for a tournament!" Anko yawns a little bit, but as she walked away, she noted that Naruto wasn't following her.

"T-tournament?!" Naruto yelled as he looked at Anko.

She nodded, smiling, "damn skippy!"

"B-but, I'm not ready for a tournament, right?" Naruto inquired as he looked at her.

She just turned around and ruffled his hair, "no, but we'll get you ready. The Mistralian-Atlasian Combat Tournament isn't for another six months."

Naruto stood there, looking at the trees, "Anko…what's a bloodline?"

"I'll explain it to you another day, c'mon Fishcake, its nothing bad I assure you," Anko told him as she watches him reluctantly start moving back toward her.

She draped her arm around her, "relax kid, the nightmare is over."

* * *

A bright day in Mistral, with the winds flowing across the mountainous city giving life to all those people around it, Naruto was standing at the gate by Anko. The woman yawns, she looked at him, giving him a smile as she patted her shoulder.

Maki neighs as several people start walking toward the gate.

Ren was on crutches for the time being, until his leg fully healed from the bullet, Nora was there helping him. Arslan and several others looked at Naruto, all of them walking up to him, bowing their heads.

"We're sorry, about last week when you said you couldn't play with us because you weren't a student in the academy." Arslan apologized first, "it's a liability thing…ya know."

"No, I understand, it is fine!" Naruto waved it off as he spoke with a smile.

Daichi sighed, "so, are you really leaving? I mean, after all, you've done you'd get honors to get into Sanctum."

"Meh," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I am more interested in sticking with my teacher, Anko."

"Well, we've got you something for the road, its nothing big." Arslan held out her hand, it was a necklace.

An amethyst, she looked at him, "it wasn't too expensive, and you earned it. It's a symbol of our friendship with you, for saving Nora and Ren."

Naruto chuckled, putting it around his neck, "it is awesome guys."

"Oh, um, Naruto." Nora then grabs him and brings him into a group hug. T

Naruto's eyes widened a little bit until he smiled and returned the hug to everyone, "thanks, guys…thank you…"

The group squeezes him a little bit harder.

The blonde yawns as he is let go, "and now I have to return to my torturer."

"Ooh Fishcake," Anko mocked being hurt slightly, "that's cold~"

Anko looked at Nora as she walked with the group up to her, smiling as Naruto stood by her, "mam…can you please make sure our little guy gets back here safe?"

Daichi was the one that spoke, "we owe him a game of soccer."

Naruto laughed a little bit, "she will, you all just focus on getting stronger!"

Everyone looked at each other, nodding, "we'll do our friend!"

The blonde watches as they start walking away, he sighed a little bit, "you think I'll see them again?"

"Of course," Anko hopped up on Maki, "but guess what time it is?"

"Run time?"  
"RUN TIME~"

"Yah Maki, Yah!" Anko made her horse gallop, with Naruto following closely behind.

Naruto yelled out as he ran behind her, "I've got to get me a horse!"

* * *

Night had fallen quickly over Mistral, and for the first time in a little over a week, Naruto could take comfort in the sounds of crickets chirping. He leaned back on Maki's back leg, sighing, his legs were sore. He had run a good thirty miles today, but it was nowhere near like it had been at the start of his training with Anko, he was acclimating rather well.

His sword jingled all the way on his hip since he was allowed to carry it, it became his responsibility, not Anko's.

Anko was stoking a campfire, looking at the blonde, "Hey, Fishcake?"

"Hmm," Naruto leaned up and sat cross-legged, "what's up Anko?"

"How did you hold your own against Wendigo?" Anko inquired, watching him see if he was lying on anything.

"Um, luck mostly, and basic stuff you taught me during our journey so far. I mean, it was common sense, he was much stronger than me, so I had to keep him moving. Plus, my semblance made all the difference since I could keep distance with it, but then he did a series of hand seals and launched fire from his mouth." He got up, and took a deep breath, "kind of like this!"

Naruto fumbled for a moment on the hand seals, ending on Tiger, which he knew intimately at this point. The blonde took a deeper breath than before, his cheeks puffing out a little, he turned toward the ground as he let loose a wave of fire from his mouth.

Anko's eyes widened, she was stunned, only a few people she knew could instinctively use Jutsu after seeing it.

Naruto was one of ten people, her father and Itachi among them, hell she wasn't even among them!

The blonde tween chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, "see, do you know what its called?"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Not a bad Jutsu, a C-rank Jutsu, but the fact you used it without prior training in elemental manipulation is astounding…how, Fishcake?" She eyed him, watching rub the back of his head.

the child took a deep breath, he clapped his hands into the Tiger Seal and focused chakra into his eyes. Opening them, his eyes were crimson red, with a foxlike slit in the middle. He took a moment to focus more chakra into them, he felt them burn as black veins emerged around them.

That's when Anko's aura and charka networks became visible, "I can see your networks, the nodes for aura and the networking for chakra. When he used that Jutsu he put a lot of chakra into his throat and ground it together while forming hand seals."

Anko hummed, "then that tracker may have a point about the bloodline thing, very few bloodlines allow someone to see inside someone else's network."

The blonde blinks, deactivating the eyes he had, he took a moment to gather his bearings. "Well, is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Depends on the bloodline," Anko said as she got cross-legged, "some bloodlines carry with it a curse. Sharingan, Itachi's carry's a curse of hatred that allows them to transform into higher forms but at the cost of someone's morality."

"All of these bloodlines can be traced back in the centuries before Grimm, when Dragon Continent, Ryu, wasn't even formed due to The Great War. A war supposedly fought between humanity, divine kind, and demons. Supposedly the divines made the middle of the larger continent, Taiyo, flood and thus forming the two very close continents of Ryu and Sanus." Anko tells Naruto as she leaned back on to her bedroll.

Naruto was stunned, "this really happened?"

"No one knows," Anko waves her hand, "that was a time when the moon was whole. Now, I'm no history buff, but when humanity and Faunus kind were at their peak the Grimm came about…so…give or take a few thousand, about twenty thousand years."

He sighed, "so what are we going to do now if the tournament isn't for a while?"

"Train Fishcake, train and train and…train!" Anko rolls around on the ground as she chants, she then stops, "and work on hand seals and Jutsu."

Naruto's tail wagged, he pumped his fist, "yes!"

"No don't get excited, my method is brutally efficient, and it'll take time master Fishcake." Anko then yawns as she speaks, "but for now, let us just rest."

Nodding, Naruto got into his bedroll, huddling into it. He looked at Anko, giving her a smile, that's when he yawned as well.

"Anko," she looked at him, "thank you…for all of this…I know I say it a lot, but I don't think I can say it enough."

Anko smiled, "aww can it Fishcake, I'm about to go devil on your ass starting tomorrow."

* * *

Awakening before dawn, Naruto leaned up from the bedroll, feeling hungry. He yawns, getting oxygen to flow throughout his body, and gets out from under the bedroll. Walking over to a nearby stream he looks at the fish swimming in the river.

Karp, not very tasty, but very nutritious all the same.

Getting his sword out, making it glow as he channeled chakra into it, Naruto readied himself to thrust into the river, only to stop when he heard chuckle around him. That chuckling sounded very familiar, his eyes widened as he turned around to find The Wendigo standing there.

"Hello," Naruto's body moved before he could react, jumping backward.

The Wendigo appeared behind him, however, holding him by his neck, "thought your friend could kill me…please…"

Naruto attempted to scream for Anko, but The Wendigo twisted his neck, popping it and making him fall into a heap on the river's edge.

As Naruto laid paralyzed on the river's edge, he watched as The Wendigo casually walked over toward Anko before raising a dagger up and stabbing her in the head.

* * *

Naruto jolted upward, he breathed heavily, he was sweating profusely inside of bedroll. He grabbed his sword, unsheathing it from his scabbard and holding it at the ready. He looked around, breathing hard, he noticed that there was no sign of anything around him save for Anko and Maki.

Forming the Tiger seal while sheathing the sword, Naruto forced chakra into his eyes as he looked around, he didn't see any other chakra signatures save Maki's and Anko's. He gripped his head, he felt it pound as he looked around it, still focusing on the area around him.

He suddenly felt sick!

Running over toward a tree, he lurched and then violently vomited into the brush he was facing. Falling to his knees as he did, however, he took a deep breath and wiped his lips.

"Just a nightmare…just a nightmare…" Naruto murmured in a mantra, "just a nightmare…"

He fell back on his buttocks, taking a moment to collect himself, "even when dead…"

He leaned back, breathing hard, he just smacked his face as he deactivated his eyes. Taking a moment, shakenly, to stand up. Pinching his nose, he could still fill the pop in his neck, as if it hadn't been a dream, but had happened.

Taking a stepped forward, Naruto looked over at Anko, she was still asleep and no knife in her skull.

Deciding to stay up Naruto walks toward a nearby clearing, where he unsheathed his blade and slung it forward. Gripping it in two hands as he began to practice with it, slashing and stabbing at the air in front of him.

It was random, ununiformed, he had no true proper training. Just pointers his dad had given him before passing away, but something felt off as he continued to strike at the air. The woman, her smell, he never mentioned to Anko that she smelled familiar.

As if they had met, and even carried the scent of his father with her.

* * *

The Masked Woman was walking toward a small portal, there, the blonde haired man from before stood up on his rock.

"Hello, my beautiful queen," the man greeted as he hopped down, "I see you have interacted with him. So, is our son manifesting his Dojutsu?"

"He is," the woman chuckled, "our beautiful son is truly expressing his blood."

The man hummed, "does that clan woman suspect anything?"

"No," the pale woman then brushed her finger against the man's chest, "and she's an outcast anyhow."

"It was hard to leave our son, believing I was dead, my blood clone having expired too soon." The man sighs as he wrapped his arm around her, "but it doesn't matter now, does it?"

"The world is ours, The Dark God's Bloodline lives on through us and through our beautiful children." She looked behind the man's shoulder, looking at a black-haired youth sitting on a rock.

The youth had ruby red eyes, much like his mother's, and black sclera. "Mother."

"Menma," the woman walks over to her child, "your younger brother is growing up well."

"I don't understand," he looked into her eyes, "why not just bring him into the fold, train him like you trained me?"

the woman sighed as she sat behind her son, playing with his hair, the boy was obviously a little older than Naruto. Menma's hair was just like his fathers, spiky, but he took more from his maternal grandfather.

His dark blue eyes, the jet black hair, all signs to be the grandson to a God of Darkness.

"Naruto, Menma, was our second born but your father had to make it look like he was still working for The Clans. So, he had a blood clone fake its death, your brother won't be able to handle all of this until he's older…until he discovers his powers and self." The woman explains as she finished braiding one of his braids.

The man walked over to her, "Salem, Menma, the roundtable is wanting a meeting."

The woman, Salem, sighed, "they could never act without me. Minato, do you think its truly best that we don't take Naruto now?"

"No," Minato sighed, "he's been through enough already, no reason to crash world twice."

Menma rolled his eyes, "I guess the only good thing about it, is that my young brother will probably be able to use a Reality Marble before I can."

Salem smacked Menma in the back of the head lightly, "do not fret over such things my son, power comes with time. Though many of Ozpin's circle think I am a power-hungry maniac, I am not without patience."

Minato took a seat by her, "and thousands of years we've existed, waiting for the time for us to have you and your brother."

The boy sighed, "do you think that Naruto would so will leave any friends he makes?"

"No," his mother simply answered, "I will not force him too. However, I doubt many of his true friends will stay friends once he manifests his true powers."

On Menma's right hand a black sun glowed a little bit, he stood up from the rock, "mother…father, perhaps I should meet him next time."

Minato and Salem looked at each other, Minato was the first to speak up, "there is that tournament in The Crescent Islands. Menma would have to control his transformation and his powers in order to go."

Salem rubbed her chin, "perhaps we all could?"

"Risky," Minato then cupped her face, "but I wouldn't have fallen for you if I wasn't into risks."

"Gah," Menma got up in disgust, "get a room you two…sheesh."

The raven-haired youth looked at his parents, "you said long ago there was a hero that represented our kind, our progenitor…is he the soul we split from?"

"The first human and the first demoness to mate," Salem nodded as she looked at him, "yes."

Menma sighed, "I guess I should get ready for the paltry fanfare these humans throw for such occasions. Will Cinder and Emerald be accompanying us to keep up appearances of a large loving family?"

Salem glared at her child, "we are a large loving family, we just can't risk your brother becoming feral."

The teen just sighed, "I just want to see my baby brother, it is not right that he gets to suffer the lowly life of a human when he could easily become one of us."

"That," Minato looked at his eldest son, "or he would become feral and try to kill us."


End file.
